Wasteland Memories
by crazyredhead93
Summary: RPM-A girl from the Wasteland enters Corinth City bringing secrets with her that could destroy the Rangers and the city. First Fanfiction attempt. Dillon/Summer. Please Read and Review.
1. Chapter 1

**Diclaimer**-I do not own Power Rangers or any of it's characters

Chapter 1

Dust kicked up from behind the motorcycle as it turned sharply to avoid the lasers being shot towards it. Ahead, a large dome loomed above the bike, casting a shadow on the desert around it. The shadow would have been a relief, had the driver not been running for her life. Pulling one of her hands from the handle, she grabbed a blaster off of her belt and pointed it behind her. She saw a grinder gaining from behind and fired the blaster, hitting the grinder in the chest and knocking it off the bike.

Unfortunately, four more grinders took the fallen one's place.

"Don't you ever stop?" The driver whispered as she swerved to avoid another laser blast.

As the looming city grew larger, the driver identified a small opening in the wall and smiled to herself. Putting the blaster back on her belt, she hit a button on the handles of the bike, turning on the shortwave radio she had plugged in. "My name is Rachel Grant, please, if anyone can hear me, lower the shield! I'm being chased by grinders, and I don't think I can outrun them much longer. Please, lower the shield!"

***

In the domed city of Corinth, the climate controls were set to a foggy, cool day, keeping most people, including the rangers, indoors. The five rangers were in the Garage, trying to keep themselves occupied during the gloomy day. Flynn stood in the kitchen with Ziggy, showing the green ranger how to make a fruit smoothie, while Summer watched Dillon and Scott fuss over their cars. She couldn't understand why guys needed to spend so much time fixing cars that weren't even broken. As long as her bike could be driven without throwing her off or breaking down, she was happy.

"Hey Summer, could you hand me that wrench?" Scott asked, gesturing at the tool bag sitting next to Summer. She smiled and tossed him the wrench, which he caught and disappeared under the hood again.

"What exactly are you doing to that poor car?" Summer asked, "It works just fine."

"Just fine?" Scott asked in disbelief. Behind him, Dillon smirked and began turning the dials on his radio. "This baby runs flawlessly, I'm just trying to make her run a little more perfectly."

"Shut up," Dillon said, ducking down in his car.

"Why? Jealous?" Scott asked, turning around to look at him.

"No, just…Come here and listen." Summer and Scott walked over to Dillon's car to see him fiddling with the dials. Snatches of sound were coming through which didn't sound like the signal Corinth was constantly broadcasting.

"My name…can hear me, lower the shield…Being chased by grinders…don't think I can outrun them much longer…"Static filled the car again.

"Is it just me, or did that sound like a distress signal?" Dillon asked, looking up at the other two rangers.

***

Flynn and Ziggy looked up as Dillon, Summer, and Scott ran past into Dr. K's lab. "Hey, what's the rush?" Ziggy called out. "Where're you guys going?"

When they didn't answer, Ziggy and Flynn followed the others into the lab. "Hey Doc, can you scan for life signs outside the dome?" Dillon asked, jogging up behind Dr. K to look at the computer screen.

"Why do you ask, Ranger Series Black?" Dr. K asked, not looking up from the keyboard.

"We heard a distress call on the radio in Dillon's car," Summer said, "Someone might be outside the shield, trying to get in!"

Dr. K sighed and pulled up the radar screen, "It seems there is a life sign moving towards the city."

"Well, pull down the shield!" Ziggy said, "If there's someone out there, we need to let them in!"

"I need permission from Colonel Truman," Dr. K said, looking around at the rangers. "I can't just take down the shield without his permission."

"We don't have time for that Doc," Dillon said roughly, "Whoever is out there could already be dead by the time you tell Colonel Truman!"

"I can't, there are rules and regulations. We cannot endanger the entire city for one person!"

Dillon stepped right up to Dr. K, towering over her. "Then I'll do it, and you can say I forced you." He said angrily.

"Dillon!" Scott bellowed. "Stop right now."

Summer watched as Dillon's face clouded over, making his already guarded expressions impossible to read. He backed up, keeping his eyes locked on Dr. K, who, for someone almost six inches shorter, did not seem intimidated. "Ranger Series Black, do you really think that letting down the shields to admit one person is worth the risk?" Dr. K asked, her eyes not wavering from his glare.

"Yes, isn't that what we're supposed to do?" he asked. "Defend people against Venjix?"

"Then I will lower the shield." Dr. K said, "I suggest you get to the entrance to defend against any attacks Venjix might send when the shield is lowered."

With that, she began lowering the shields as the rangers raced towards their vehicles.

***

Scott and Dillon skidded to a stop first at the entrance to the city. Right behind them were Summer and Flynn. Ziggy and Dillon climbed out of Dillon's car to look at the gate. It was opening slowly, but on the horizon, Dillon could see motorcycles speeding towards them. The one in the lead was twisting and turning to avoid the laser blasts from the other bikes. Dillon hoped it could get to the city before being destroyed by the grinders.

Scott glanced at the other rangers. "We'd better be ready for the worst." He said, pulling out his morpher. The other rangers did the same.

"RPM, get in gear!" They shouted in unison.

***

Rachel Grant sighed in relief as she saw Corinth's gate open. Using the radio had been a long shot, what with the radiation outside the dome, and the unlikelihood that anyone was even listening. Apparently good things did happen sometimes. She pulled her blaster out of her belt again and fired a couple of victory shots back at the grinders before steering through the opening.

***

Scott watched as the biker sped through the opening and relayed the information back to Dr. K. "All clear, Dr. K." He said, "You can raise the shield."

The door to the dome began lowering again, but not before the grinders chasing the motorcycle made it through. Scott and the other rangers hurdled towards them, fighting through the mob Venjix had sent.

Behind the rangers, Rachel took off her helmet and watched with mild amusement. Watching five people in brightly colored spandex fight grinders was by far one of the funniest things she had seen. Or maybe she was just delirious.

The grinders were soon destroyed; easy kills with the ranger suits on, so Scott turned his attention back to the girl on the motor bike. When she saw him looking at her, she swung her leg over the side and stood up. Her face had the dirty, sunburned look of someone who had been out in the wasteland beyond the dome for a while and her clothes were old and dirty. But what drew Scott's attention was the passenger behind her. A small girl, about ten or eleven years old sat huddled behind the motorcycle's driver, averting her eyes from the rangers and fiddling with a small pendant around her neck.

"Dr. K," Scott said into the communicator in his helmet, "How many life signs did you say there were?"

"Life _sign_," Dr. K emphasized, "Only one."

"Then why are there two passengers on that bike?" Scott asked himself and his team.


	2. Chapter 2

***

Rachel stiffened when she heard the red ranger's question. She hadn't known the city's sensors were so sophisticated and had thought that she and her sister would have enough time to get their supplies before the city officials realized something was wrong.

"I guess we're not getting a welcome package," she muttered, her hand flying to the blaster. She was already exhausted after fighting the grinders, and after seeing how this team of brightly clad police officers had taken out the rest of Venjix's foot soldiers, she didn't know if she was up to the challenge. But no way was she going down without a fight. "Look, all we want are food and some supplies and we'll be on our way. We don't want trouble."

"You should have though about that before asking us to lower the shield, because according to our sensors there's only one of you, and I'm going to guess whoever is not registering on our scanner is probably hiding Venjix technology." Scott said, "Now drop the blaster and come with us."

"I don't think so," Rachel said, pulling out her blaster and pointing it at him. "You see, I come with you and there's a good chance I'm never coming back."

"You fight us, and there's no chance you're coming back, so why don't you take the first choice."

Rachel tightened her finger on the trigger. "I think I'll take my chances with the second one." She said sarcastically.

"Fine, we'll play it your way." Scott said, "But don't say I didn't warn you. Street Saber!" His saber appeared, catching Rachel off guard. She quickly recovered and leveled her blaster at the red ranger again, her eyes shining with determination.

***

Summer watched as Scott and the girl from the wasteland squared off. She wasn't concerned for Scott, the girl could barely hold herself up she was so tired and battered, Scott could defeat her easily. Summer was more concerned for the passenger, the little girl who was still on the bike looked terrified, her eyes were wide and staring at the motorcycle's driver with concern. If the older girl managed to hold her own, even for a little while, and the fight got out of hand, the smaller girl could be hurt.

Suddenly, Dillon moved towards Scott and put his hand on the saber. "Wait a second," he said, pulling the weapon down and putting himself between Scott and the girl.

"What do you think you're doing?" Scott shouted as Dillon stepped towards the girl. Summer knew Dillon liked getting under Scott's skin, but she didn't think he'd put the city at risk just to annoy Scott.

The girl turned her blaster towards Dillon and said, "I can start with you, too. I'm really not picky."

Dillon stopped walking. "Put down the blaster before you hurt someone," he said, almost condescendingly.

"What makes you think that if your buddy over there couldn't make me put it down, then you can?" Summer flinched. She and the rest of her team knew that Dillon was perfectly capable of disarming her before she could fire a shot, and since Dillon was the one who had insisted that Dr. K lower the city's shield, he would want to fix his mistake.

"Okay girlie, you are messing with the wrong guy, you know that?" Ziggy piped up from behind Summer. Amazing, even in a situation like this, Ziggy could not shut up.

However, instead of knocking the blaster out of her hand and the girl on her ass, Dillon simply took off his helmet and said, "Rachel, put down the blaster."

The girl gasped and swayed on the spot. "D-Dillon?" she asked in shock, grabbing onto her bike seat to steady her. The other rangers looked at Dillon in astonishment. As far as they knew, Dillon didn't remember anyone from before he came to Corinth. "Why are you wearing spandex?" Her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed.

***

Ziggy watched as the girl hit the pavement. He was still in shock from the fact that Dillon knew this girl, Rachel he had called her, seeing as Dillon didn't know very many people. "Wait," he said, "So you're saying that you know this girl? Is she like part robot too?"

"We met out in the wasteland." Dillon said, walking over to Rachel. "I didn't think she'd still be alive."

"Why not?" Summer asked. She took her helmet off and started walking towards the little girl still on the motorcycle. The girl looked frightened, so Summer held her hand out for the girl to take. The girl tentatively hopped off the motorcycle and began moving towards Summer, obviously afraid. Summer smiled gently, trying to reassure the girl that everything was okay. The smile seemed to have worked, because the girl cautiously took Summer's outstretched hand.

"Not many people make it out in the wasteland alive." Dillon said shortly. He kicked the blaster out of Rachel's hand.

"But she's obviously got some kind of robot hardware in her," said Ziggy. "I mean, only one person was registering on the scanner."

"Rachel not the one with machine parts in her." Dillon said. He turned around and looked pointedly at the girl holding Summer's hand.

Summer looked down, "You mean that this girl has Venjix hardware inside of her? She can't be more than twelve." The girl looked fearfully up at Summer, as if afraid that Summer would suddenly pull out one of her weapons and shoot her. Summer smiled soothingly, even with this revelation, she had no intention of hurting this girl.

"You knew that there were others out there with Venjix hardware and you didn't tell us?" Scott asked Dillon accusingly. Scott understood that Dillon still didn't trust the rangers completely, but he couldn't believe that Dillon had kept such an important fact from them.

"Rachel asked me not to." Dillon said casually, picking Rachel up, carrying her back to his car, and laying her in the back seat. "And you never asked."

Scott looked like he was going to say something else but Flynn interrupted. "As much as I enjoy listening to you two fight, maybe we should take it back to the garage. We can sort this out there. Dr. K can find out exactly what kind of technology the girl has in her and why our city sensors couldn't detect it."

"Fine," Scott said, morphing out of his ranger suit, "but we keep both of them under guard until we know what we're dealing with."

***

Back at the garage, Rachel, who was still unconscious, was placed in a chair and restrained by Dr. K, who then turned her attention back to the little girl. Dillon stood by the door watching as Dr. K ran a scanner over her.

"What is your name?" Dr. K asked as she scanned the girl. The small girl remained mute, only staring past Dr. K at Rachel.

"Her name's Chloe," Dillon said from behind Dr. K.

Dr. K turned around to face Dillon, "Can't she speak, Ranger Series Black?" she asked, lowering the scanner.

"She can talk; she just doesn't do it much." Dillon answered. Chloe looked up at Dillon and Dr. K and nodded in agreement.

"Why not?"

"I don't know, maybe she's shy." Dillon snapped. "Can we focus on what your magic scanner says, Doc?"

"We could, if it was saying anything," Dr. K said, walking over to the computer. "The scanner isn't recognizing anything, human or machine, on this girl. It's like she doesn't exist."

Chloe looked from Dr. K to Dillon with wide eyes before pointing towards a pendant hanging around her neck and then towards the computer. She repeated the gesture several times, then smacked her arm on the chair in frustration when she saw that neither Dillon nor Dr. K understood, leaving a large palm print indented in the metal of the chair. She gripped the pendant in her palm and tugged on it, pulling it free from her neck and tossed it to Dr. K, who fumbled to catch it. Then, Chloe gestured to the scanner.

Dr. K brought the scanner back to the girl, and this time a scan showed up the screen, giving the readings of the hardware inside Chloe. "Oh my," she said, looking back at Chloe. "That is definitely not what I was expecting."

***

"Wait," Scott said, "Are you saying that whatever in that girl is the same technology as what the zords are made of?"

"That is correct Ranger Operator Series Red," Dr. K nodded, "Her bionic implants are not Venjix technology, but ranger." Summer and Flynn looked at Dr. K in surprise.

"So what, she's not some crazy robot sent by Venjix to kill us?" Ziggy asked excitedly. "Because that sounds like good news to me!"

"Still, Rachel seemed pretty ready to fight us. Just because they don't have Venjix technology, doesn't mean they're on our side." Summer said as she sat down on a stool in the garage's small kitchen. She wasn't ready to trust Rachel, especially after she had tricked the rangers into opening the city's shield. "I mean, what about the shield that stopped the scanner from sensing Chloe's hardware? Where did they get that?"

"Why don't we ask them when Rachel wakes up?" Flynn asked.

"Yeah, because I'm sure she's just itching to answer our questions." Scott said sarcastically. "I don't know if you remember, but she seemed quite ready to blast my head off earlier. I don't think she's exactly the sharing type."

"Then let's ask Dillon." Flynn suggested, "He knows them, maybe he can tell us why they're here."

"Ranger Series Black is standing guard in the lab, to make sure that neither Rachel nor Chloe hurt themselves or anyone else." Dr. K told the rangers. As if to highlight her point, a large _bang_ came from the lab, followed by a female voice screaming, "Let go of me!"

The team rushed into the lab to see the chair Rachel had been restrained in empty and several pieces of equipment had been strewn across the floor. On the other side of the room, Dillon was holding Rachel with her arms pinned behind her as she struggled to break free.

"Let go of me!" She yelled again, squirming harder, "I swear Dillon, if you don't let go of me right now, I'll-"

"What, what're you gonna do? Kick me until I let go?" he asked casually. Rachel stopped struggling and glared. "Alright, if I let go, do you promise not to run?"

"No." She said angrily, glowering around the room, her eyes locking on the other rangers. "I'm going to guess you're the fabled power rangers." Rachel's sneer made it clear that she couldn't care less.

"Oh, you've heard of us?" Ziggy asked eagerly, "I didn't know that people in the wasteland had heard of us, with there being no radio signals or anything really out there. Speaking of, how did you survive out there for so long?"

Rachel twisted to look up at Dillon, "He's like an overeager puppy." She said. Dillon just shrugged. "Ow, I think you're dislocating my shoulder. Alright, if you let me down, I promise not to run."

Dillon released his hold on her and she dropped to the ground, brushing off her blouse. Chloe came out from behind Dillon and tugged on Rachel's shirt. Rachel bent down as Chloe whispered something in her ear.

"Chloe says you know that the technology planted inside of her is not Venjix, and she wants to thank you for not killing either of us on sight when you found out about the hardware." Rachel relayed the message, sounding almost bored.

"Could Chloe tell us why she has hardware specifically used for ranger technology inside of her?" Dr. K asked. She was anxious to know how two girls had gotten their hands on such sophisticated technology.

"Chloe's not much for talking," Rachel replied sarcastically, "And I'm not really in the mood at the moment."

Chloe glared up at Rachel and then turned towards the rangers. She shot them an apologetic look and then turned around and kicked Rachel in the shin. Rachel doubled over in pain.

"I think Chloe might want you to tell us what's going on." Dillon said, grinning and grabbing Rachel's arm to help her stand up straight.

"Yeah, I got the message." Rachel groaned. She looked at the rangers. "Fine, I'll tell you what I know."

Summer could tell that Rachel wasn't happy about talking about anything with the rangers, but she was relieved to finally be getting answers to everything that had happened since they had lowered the shield.


	3. Chapter 3

***

Tenaya 7 waltzed into Venjix's lair, expecting to see yet another robot that would be sent into the city to destroy the rangers. Instead, she saw Generals Crunch and Shifter huddled around the large white pillar that housed Venjix.

"If I had realized we were having a pow-wow," Tenaya said airily," I would have brought marshmallows."

"Silence, Tenaya 7." Venjix said. His red eye turned towards a screen on the far left wall, which began playing a video feed from outside of Corinth's dome. "As I was telling General Crunch and General Shifter, an unknown person was admitted into Corinth only a few hours ago."

"Mmm, fascinating," Tenaya said disinterestedly, "Although I don't understand what is so important about it."

The video zoomed in on the biker and her passenger. "Only one life sign was detected." Venjix said, "But there are clearly two occupants of the vehicle. My other scans can find no discernible trace of that girl being there. Even if she was a robot, she'd give off some kind of signal."

"Which means she is shielded somehow from our sensors, meaning she is probably shielded from Corinth's sensors! If we could find whatever is shielding the girl, we could steal it enter the city without the rangers ever detecting us!" General Crunch said, showing his usual idiotic enthusiasm. Tenaya rolled her eyes and turned back to Venjix.

"So you want us to go into the city and steal the shield?" She asked, turning back to screen. Venjix was nothing if not predictable in his plots to destroy Corinth.

"Exactly," Venjix said. "Which is why you will need this." The claw next to him dropped down into the pit, pulling up an attack-bot up. "This robot will keep the rangers busy while you find the girl."

***

Rachel sat down heavily on the chair and looked around at the rangers. "When Chloe was four, she was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy," she started, "which basically means her heart wasn't working the way it should. My father was big in the science community, and when the usual treatments for cardiomyopathy weren't working, he called some people he knew to see if they could do anything. It took four years, but finally my dad said that he and some other scientists had found a way to cure Chloe. They sent her away to a hospital, and she stayed there for a year. I didn't know what he was doing, but it seemed to be working. Every time I visited my sister, she was getting better! I had no idea that they were putting these machine parts into her until the Venjix computer virus began attacking. I begged my parents to bring her home and they finally told me what had been done to Chloe, that she'd been given some kind of robotic upgrade, and now she could help protect the city from Venjix. Instead I took her away from that hospital and this city."

"So you are saying, instead of letting your sister do the job she was made to do, a job she was perfectly equipped to do, if the upgrades are any indication, you took her away from the city and into the wasteland?" Dr. K asked incredulously. She knew she was being insensitive, but Chloe could have been a very valuable asset in the fight against Venjix.

"No," Rachel said angrily, "I'm saying that I took my nine year old sister, who still believed in the Easter Bunny and cried when she saw injured animals, away from a city that wanted to use her as a soldier in some half-assed plan to defend the city, to the wasteland where there were no scientists waiting in line to study her, or generals waiting to put her on the front lines to be cannon fodder!" She glared at Dr. K indignantly, daring her to say anything else.

"But she's not a kid anymore," Scott said, after a long, awkward silence, "And if she was built to-"

Rachel cut him off. "You see? This is exactly why I tried to stay away from the city! Everyone wants something from Chloe, be it information, a soldier, whatever. Everyone sees the machine, no one sees the girl! She may not be a little kid anymore, but she's not an adult, and she is not going out there to fight Venjix. Not yet. And for your information, she wasn't built; she was born, same as you, same as me."

Scott looked like he was about to say something back when Summer cut him off. She could tell that Rachel truly believed that what she had done was right, and whether it was or not, Scott berating her wasn't going to convince her otherwise. "Alright, we just want to know what happened," she said calmly. "So you took your sister out of the city and into the wasteland. How did you survive? I mean, there's nothing out there!"

"Maybe if you looked past your shields for a second and out into the world you're hiding from, you'd see that you're wrong." Rachel snapped. "There are people living out there, there have been since Venjix attacked. Not everyone has the means to, or even wants to, get to Corinth. We moved from place to place, trading with those people for food and water. That's how we survived."

"Is that how you got Chloe's shield? You traded for it?" Dr. K asked. "I didn't think that there was any technology left outside of Corinth that Venix hadn't taken over."

"No, I stole the shield from the hospital too. That's how I smuggled Chloe out of the city. They would have found us within minutes if I hadn't." Rachel said. She refused to meet anyone's eyes, and Summer could swear she saw a tear glistening in the corner of Rachel's eye, the first sign of any emotion besides anger that she had revealed. "Afterwards, I heard through some traders that the hospital where my sister had been was destroyed before the shields could be raised. It was one of only four buildings inside the city that was damaged in the attack. If I had left my sister there, there was a good chance she would have died anyway."

Scott looked like he wanted to say something else, but he was interrupted by a voice coming from his morpher. "Rangers," Colonel Mason's voice rang out, "There is a Venjix Attack Bot attacking the harbor."

The rangers stood up, looking reluctant to leave the conversation, but each knowing that it was important that they defend the city.

"You stay here," Scott said, pointing to Rachel and Chloe. "Ziggy, you stay with them, make sure that they don't go anywhere." He took off towards his car, behind the other three rangers who were coming.

"Wait, what? No!" Ziggy said. He wanted to go to where the action was, not stay on babysitting duty. He was tired of being treated like the new guy, even though he technically was the new guy.

"Ziggy, just stay there!" Scott ordered, climbing into his car. Ziggy sighed as the other rangers sped off.

"Why am I stuck with babysitting?" he asked himself.

Outside the garage, Tenaya hid behind a warehouse until the rangers were gone. "Now, I will find the shield and destroy the rangers and this city!" she whispered to herself.

***

The rangers, minus Ziggy, raced towards the location of Venjix's newest attack bot. As they arrived, they saw General Crunch and General Shifter on either side, but Tenaya 7 was unexpectedly absent. There was, however, the usual contingent of grinders around the attack bot.

"Oh look, it's the Power Rangers." General Crunch said, mockingly. "I'm so scared!"

"You should be," Summer answered, "Because we've got a pretty good record for destroying whatever robots Venjix sends."

"Not this time," General Shifter said confidently.

"We'll see." Scott and the other rangers pulled out their morphers and shouted in unison, "RPM, get in gear!" and morphed. Then, all four took off running towards Venjix's creations.

***

Meanwhile, back at the garage, Rachel and Chloe sat watching Ziggy as he paced around mumbling to himself. "I should be out there! Why was I left on babysitting duty?"

Rachel snorted, "You're pissed about being left to babysit us? How do you think I feel? I'm nineteen! I haven't had a babysitter in over ten years!"

Ziggy looked over at Rachel, "Yeah, but I'm a power ranger." He said defensively, crossing his arms across his chest. No matter how many times he said it, Ziggy couldn't get used to the fact that he was actually a power ranger. "I'm supposed to be defending the city, not watching some crazy chick and her sister."

"Like that makes a difference. Let me guess, bottom of the totem pole, newest ranger, you probably like to goof off a lot," she said. "The new guy always gets the boring jobs, it's part of every hierarchy. And don't call me crazy."

"How did you know all that?" Ziggy asked, pulling up a chair across from her.

"Out in the wasteland, you have to be able to read people, to know whether you can trust them or if they're just going to try and steal your food and supplies. I got pretty good at it."

Rachel lapsed back into silence and turned her head to watch the door of the garage. A few minutes later, she stood up and started walking towards it.

"Hey, wait, where are you going?" Ziggy asked. "You're supposed to stay here! Come back or you'll…you'll regret it."

Rachel flashed a smile over her shoulder. "I just want to get some air. The exhaust fumes in here are making me dizzy." She swooned on the spot to demonstrate her point. "And I've never seen the city with the shield up. You can come too if you want. Besides, it's not like I'm going to run off, especially if she's still here." Rachel pointed to Chloe, who was busy reading a book she had found on the kitchen counter.

Ziggy shot a glance back at Chloe and then looked at Rachel hesitantly. "Alright, you can go out, but just right outside the door. No farther."

Rachel smiled and saluted Ziggy. "Yes, sir." She said, walking out the door.

Ziggy turned back towards Chloe, "Was your sister always this pigheaded?"

Chloe looked up from her book and nodded, a small grin spreading across her face. "My parents didn't like it, they said it would get her into trouble." She whispered. "I guess they were right." She smiled to herself.

"Wow, you really can talk." Ziggy said. Chloe grinned up at him and returned to her book. "What are you reading?" he asked, turning his head to look at the cover of the book.

Before she could answer, the door banged open and Rachel literally came flying through, landing with a thud on the floor. She was followed by Tenaya 7, who, as always, was whistling and smirking.

"Chloe, run!" Rachel yelled from the floor, her voice sounding pained, she had gotten the wind knocked out of her. Before Ziggy could react, Chloe was off the chair and running up the stairs. She shot one frightened glance back at her sister before disappearing into one of the rooms on the second floor.

"Oh, how fun," Tenaya said, "I do love a good game of tag." She started towards the stairwell when suddenly her legs were pulled out from under her.

Tenaya looked back to see Rachel hanging on to her foot. "Let go, girlie. I promise I won't hurt the girl, I just want the shield." Tenaya said sweetly, shaking Rachel off her foot. Ziggy couldn't believe his ears. How did Tenaya know about the shield Chloe had brought?

Rachel pushed herself off the floor to face Tenaya. "One, I don't believe you." She said, dusting off her clothes, "Two, even if I did, she doesn't have it, and three, don't call me girlie."

Tenaya looked at her, sizing her up. "Then I guess it's you I'm after. This will be easier than I thought."

Rachel spread her arms open wide, "Come and get it."

"Oh darling, you don't know who you're messing with." Tenaya said nastily.

"Neither do you." Rachel shot back.

Suddenly, Tenaya was hit from behind by a large stool, taking her by surprise. Rachel used the distraction to lunge for a nearby pool stick, while Ziggy, the wielder of the stool, morphed into ranger form.

Tenaya straightened up, cracking her neck from side to side. "Didn't your mother ever teach you it wasn't polite to hit a girl?"

"Yes, however she never said anything about killer robot girls." Ziggy shot back. "Now, how about we take down this killer robot?" He said to Rachel, who nodded in agreement.

Tenaya looked between the two and smirked. "The goof off ranger who can barely hold his own in a fight and a small human girl with a pool stick, I'm terrified. Now hand over the shield or I will take it from you." Ziggy couldn't help but secretly agree. Of all the rangers, he was definitely not the best equipped to fight Tenaya, and Rachel was even less able without a ranger suit.

"Like I said," Rachel broke the pool stick in two and twirled both pieces around in her hands, "Come and get it."

Tenaya shrieked and lunged for Rachel, who nimbly avoided the attack and struck Tenaya with one of the pool sticks. Before Tenaya could recover, Ziggy ran towards her and landed a blow to her back that sent her sprawling.

"Nice hit," Rachel breathed beside him.

"You too." Ziggy answered, kicking Tenaya again. He was surprised, for someone who barely broke five feet, it looked like Rachel could pack a lot of power into a punch. He wondered briefly if she wasn't hiding any upgrades like her sister's.

"You both got lucky." Tenaya said, thrusting herself onto her feet. "Won't happen again."

"Ziggy, can you call the other rangers and get them back here?" Rachel asked, preparing for Tenaya's next attack.

"Yeah," Ziggy pulled out his morpher as Tenaya rushed towards him and Rachel once more.

***

**I'm leaving on vacation tonight, so probably I won't be able to update until Monday, but hopefully by Monday afternoon I'll have the next chapter up.**


	4. Chapter 4

***

On the other side of town, the rangers were still fighting Venjix's attack bot. Despite looking no different from all of the others, this bot was stronger, and was putting up a good fight against the rangers. As Summer and Dillon narrowly dodged a blast from a cannon attached to the attack bot's arm, Scott attempted to attack the bot from behind, but the bot spun around and knocked him backwards.

"What do you say we get this over with?" Flynn asked, "Turbo Cannon!" He aimed the large cannon at the bot and fired. The blast sent the bot reeling back several feet.

"Let's put it together!" Scott said, running over to where Flynn was standing. The other rangers nodded in agreement, "Road blaster!" The three primary colored rangers held the weapon and leveled it at the monster.

"Any last words?" Summer asked, the attack bot didn't respond. "Good, because I really hate hearing you guys talk." She pulled out her engine cell. "Engine cell activate!" The Road Blaster fired, destroying the attack bot.

"Well, that's taken care of." Scott said, dusting his hands off. "You'd think Venjix would start sending attack bots that were…" He trailed off, trying to find the right word.

"Not so easy to destroy?" Dillon offered.

"Ha," General Crunch cackled from behind them. "Venjix only wanted to keep you busy so that…" General Shifter hit him hard in the shoulder, cutting him off, "Oops, I wasn't supposed to say that, was I?"

"Keep us busy so that what?" Summer asked.

Ziggy's voice came through their helmets, "Umm, hello? I hate to interrupt but Tenaya is in the garage trying to get Chloe's shield thingy from the lab."

"So that we wouldn't be at the garage when Tenaya went to steal Chloe's shield." Flynn said, smacking his helmet. "Of course."

"Well then what are we waiting for?" Dillon said, "We need to get back to the garage!"

***

Dillon was out of his car before it had stopped, running towards Tenaya, Rachel, and Ziggy in the garage. He had seen Rachel hold her own against people trying to steal supplies and food in the wasteland, but they were ordinary people, not killer robots created by Venjix.

Inside, Rachel and Ziggy were on the defensive, with Tenaya constantly pushing them back towards the lab where Dr. K had put the shield. Dillon assumed that Dr. K was somewhere inside the lab, hopefully getting ready to use one of her many lasers that she left lying around.

Dillon and the other rangers' entrance had distracted Tenaya momentarily, allowing Rachel and Ziggy to get the upper hand in the fight. "Turbo Axe!" Ziggy cried, swinging the giant axe down towards Tenaya. Tenaya was about to block when Rachel smacked her in the stomach with two halves of what looked to be a pool stick. Tenaya doubled over, allowing Ziggy to strike her with the axe.

"You'll regret that!" Tenaya wheezed, standing up again.

"No, you're going to regret ever coming into this city." Dillon said from behind her. He grabbed her shoulder and threw her over the nearby pool table towards Scott, Flynn, and Summer. "Are you two okay?" he asked Ziggy and Rachel.

They looked at each other and smiled, well at least Rachel did, Dillon couldn't see Ziggy's face through his green helmet. "Yeah, I think we're okay." Rachel said.

"Yeah, we had it covered." Ziggy said. "She's lucky you came when you did, because we were totally about to tear her down."

Rachel looked at Ziggy and snorted, her smile widening.

"Um, guys?" Flynn said, "I hate to interrupt but…" They looked across the room to see the red, blue, and yellow rangers fighting Tenaya.

Dillon looked at Rachel, "You go get Chloe and make sure she's safe." He told Rachel, "We'll take care of her." Rachel was about to protest, but before she could, Dillon and Ziggy ran towards Tenaya.

"You always seem to get in the way of a perfectly good plan." Tenaya said angrily, dodging a blow from Scott, which put her directly in the path of a kick from Summer.

"Yeah, we're annoying like that." Dillon said, seizing Tenaya's arm and flipping her onto the floor.

Tenaya pulled herself away from the Rangers and dusted herself off. "You may have won this time, but I will get that shield and you will be defeated."

"Promises, promises," Summer said as Tenaya ran out the door.

The rangers morphed out of their suits and surveyed the damage to the garage. Aside from a broken pool stick and dented stool, there was surprisingly little destruction.

Dr. K appeared from behind the doorway into the lab. "Is she gone?" she asked, looking around at the garage.

"Yeah, she's gone." Scott said, smiling a little. Dr. K was holding a large gun in her hands that at was at least half her size. "Is Chloe's shield okay?"

"The shield is safe, Ranger Series Red," Dr. K confirmed. "Although I don't know where Chloe is."

"We're up here!" Rachel called from the second floor. She and Chloe appeared seconds later at the top of the landing and started walking down the stairs.

"What was that?" Rachel asked, rubbing a bruise on her arm that Tenaya had given her.

"Tenaya 7," answered Dr. K, "She is completely robotic, but looks like a human. Her mission was to retrieve the green morpher and infiltrate the power rangers, but since she failed she's been attacking the city relentlessly with Venix's attack bots."

Rachel looked at Dr. K, "Um, okay, she's a robot would have been enough but, whatever." She shrugged and turned to Ziggy. "Thanks," she said, sounding sincere for the first time, "If you hadn't been here, the crazy android probably would have gotten the shield."

Ziggy blushed and looked down at his feet. He wasn't used to being thanked; usually it was one of the other rangers who saved the day. Scott threw his arm across Ziggy's shoulder, "See, aren't you glad I made you stay back?" he asked.

Flynn snorted and walked back towards the kitchen. "Now, if all of the surprises for the day are over," he said, "I'd like to finish my smoothie."

Summer laughed, "Hey, anyone want to play a game of poker?" she asked, "I just got a new deck of cards." She looked around at the other rangers.

Scott nodded, "You're on." He pulled up a chair as Summer began shuffling the cards at the table.

Ziggy joined them at the table, "So are we playing for actual cash, or is it just imaginary?" He asked, and Summer rolled her eyes. "Are you gonna play Dillon?" She asked.

"Sorry Summer," Dillon said over his shoulder, he was already walking away. "I need to talk to Rachel."

"Oh, well, maybe later then." She called half-heartedly.

"Yeah, maybe," he said as he and Rachel climbed the stairs to his room.

***

Tenaya 7 crept slowly through Venjix's lair, trying to avoid detection. Even though she was the most powerful of his three generals, she had failed to retrieve the shield for Venjix and he would not be happy. And when Venjix wasn't happy, things tended to be destroyed.

Not for the first time, she considered what it would be like if she were in charge, not Venjix. She wouldn't have to be slinking around in back hallways, hiding from a giant, talking white pillar, and she was pretty sure that the rangers would already have been destroyed.

"Tenaya 7!" Tenaya looked up in surprised. In her anger; she hadn't noticed that she had walked straight back into Venjix's main chamber. "We've been waiting for you."

"Look, before you blast me into pieces to be reused for another one of your robot creations, let me explain!" Tenaya said, holding her hands up in front of her. "One of the rangers stayed behind to guard the shield, not to mention the fact that the girl they let into the city could fight like one of the rangers. They took me by surprise, it won't happen again!"

"I'm not interested in excuses Tenaya 7." Venjix said, "I want the shield. And if you can't get it, I will create something that can. And you will be disposed of."


	5. Chapter 5

***

Dillon quietly closed the door to his room behind him. Chloe had fallen asleep in his bed as soon as her head hit the pillow, and goodness knew that the girl needed a good night's sleep in a real bed.

Rachel stood outside the room, watching the door as if trying to see through it to her sister. "Really Dillon, you didn't have to do that," she said, "She could have crashed on a couch or something downstairs."

"It's not like I actually sleep." Dillon said, a small trace of anger in his voice.

Rachel laid a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, it's alright," she said soothingly.

"In what way is any of this alright?" Dillon asked, shaking off her hand. "Chloe's the only person I ever met who was like me and now it turns out that she's not even really like me! All of her technology is made to help protect people, and mine were to kill them. She's still got her memories, a sister who cares about her, she can sleep, and she's not turning into…" he choked off the words. Talking about the Venjix technology always made him angry, he hated being reminded of what he was becoming, of the fact that any minute he could snap and turn on his friends.

Rachel looked at him with alarm, which only made him angrier. Out in the wasteland, Rachel hadn't judged him on the technology because Chloe had been in the same boat as him. Now though, he knew that Chloe had been built by the very same people he had been built to destroy.

"Hey," Rachel grabbed both of Dillon's shoulders forcefully and turned him towards her. He could have easily resisted, but was too tired to fight her. "You can talk to me." She said, looking him straight in the eyes. "You know that."

Dillon heaved a sigh and hung his head. He trusted Rachel with his life; she had been the first person in the wasteland who hadn't been afraid of him and what he could do. Maybe that was why he was reluctant to tell her, because she had believed wholeheartedly that he wasn't evil.

"The Venjix technology inside me…" He paused, trying to find to right words. "It's…it's actually a virus, and it's growing, taking over me. Soon, I don't think I'll be able to fight it anymore." Dillon couldn't meet her eyes; he didn't want to see her reaction.

Rachel took a step back to steady herself. "So you're…you mean you're turning into a machine?" She asked, her voice shaking.

Dillon could only nod.

"Oh my…" She trailed off and Dillon turned away. He could understand if she was afraid. Hell, he scared himself most of the time. He was about to start walking away when he felt arms wrap around him. "I won't pretend that that doesn't scare me." Rachel said, hugging a little bit tighter. "But I have faith that you will beat this."

Summer watched from below as Rachel grabbed Dillon from behind into a hug and her stomach squirmed. She had never told Dillon about her feelings for him, she was afraid that he wouldn't feel the same way and that it would interfere with the team, but watching someone else show their affections for him hurt worse than keeping her own secret. Her eyes brimmed over with tears and she turned away from the two.

***

The next morning, the rangers met around the small kitchen for breakfast. Ziggy was eating a large bowl of cereal while Flynn and Scott ate eggs and Summer had waffles. Dillon sat off to the side, brooding and staring at his pocket watch, as usual. Summer watched him out of the corner of her eye, some part of her hoping that what she had seen last night had been a bad dream or something of the sort.

"So," Ziggy mumbled through a mouthful of cereal. "What are we going to do about Rachel and Chloe? I mean, are they going to stay here or what?" Summer squeezed the handle of her fork a little tighter as Ziggy spoke; the last thing she wanted was Rachel staying around.

"Well I have a feeling that Rachel would probably kill someone if they tried to take Chloe away from her, and she's made it very clear that Chloe is neither a science experiment nor a soldier." Flynn said. "But I don't think it's safe for them to leave Corinth, especially since we know that Venjix knows about them."

"Why don't they stay here?" Ziggy asked. Summer nearly choked on the large bite of waffle she had just taken.

"You mean, like in the garage?" She asked when she had swallowed.

"Yeah. Look, everyone knows that you're not going to be able to keep Dr. K away from Chloe, and I doubt that Rachel's going to get away with stealing Chloe out of the city, no matter what her intentions were." Ziggy looked around at the other rangers. "If we keep them here, then Doc K can figure out what exactly is up with Chloe and Rachel will be under, like, house arrest or something."

"We're not running a babysitting service here, Ziggy!" Scott said, putting his fork back on his plate and standing up. "And the last thing we need is another criminal with attitude running around." He looked pointedly at Dillon who returned his insult with a very rude hand gesture without looking up from the watch.

Behind the kitchen came the noise of a small throat clearing. Summer turned around to see Chloe standing on the steps and looking at them. She was wearing a pair of Dr. K's pajamas, which were at least three sizes too large, and her hair was flying around her face in a dirty blonde mess.

"Hi, Chloe," Summer said, her voice rising an octave into a 'mommy voice', as much as she disliked Chloe's sister, she felt oddly protective of the little girl. "Do you want some breakfast?"

Chloe nodded and came fully down the stairs and into the kitchen. She pointed to the cereal box on the counter, and Summer filled a bowl with the cereal, then poured some milk over it. Dillon dropped the watch back into his jacket and turned to rejoin the conversation.

"I heard what you were talking about." Chloe said, so quietly the rangers had to strain to hear her. "You want to study me, like Rachel said you would."

None of the rangers knew what to say, they looked at each other and then back at Chloe. They couldn't deny that what she said was true.

"It's okay." Chloe continued, surprising everyone. "I know that whatever's inside me could help beat Venjix, and I want to help." She looked down at her feet and muttered the next part to the floor. "I just don't want to fight him, Venjix scares me."

Summer's heart went out to the girl. Chloe had been born with a disease that could have ended her life, and the cure had turned her into a walking science experiment. She suddenly saw why Rachel had been so overprotective of Chloe.

"You don't have to fight." Summer said, kneeling down next to Chloe, "But if we could understand how the technology inside of you works, maybe then we could have a better chance of fighting Venjix ourselves."

Chloe beamed up at Summer and nodded. Another throat cleared behind the rangers.

"Is that how both of you enter a conversation?" Flynn asked as he turned around to face a very angry looking Rachel, "I mean, couldn't you just say something instead?"

"Actually, usually I just shoot people until I get their attention." Rachel shot back. "Which I am seriously considering right now. What makes you think that you can study my sister like some lab rat?" She asked angrily.

"Hey, Chloe came to us," Scott answered defensively.

"She's eleven, she's not old enough to make those decisions!"

"Didn't you say yesterday that Chloe wasn't a little kid anymore?" Dillon asked.

"Doesn't mean she's an adult either, Dillon." Rachel said.

"You go back out into the wasteland and Venjix will find her and tear her apart for the ranger technology inside of her. Stay here, and she'll get a few x-rays and maybe stuck with a needle or two. I don't know about you, but the second option sounds good to me." Rachel glared at Dillon and he held her gaze levelly.

"Hey!" Chloe yelled from the other side of the kitchen. For an eleven year old who barely talked, she could yell quite loudly. "It's my choice! I'm the one with the hardware inside of me, I get to choose. And I'd damn well rather help Corinth than Venjix!"

Six pairs of stunned eyes stared back at her; everyone seemed too taken aback to say anything.

Rachel recovered first, "You're too young to make that kind of decision. It may not seem like it to you, but this one thing could change your life forever! And you're not ready to make that kind of choice for yourself."

Chloe's voice dropped back down to her usually, barely audible level. "That's the same thing mom said when you came to break me out of the hospital." Rachel took a step back, stunned. Summer watched as they faced off. The two were so like each other, it was eerie.

The tension in the room was thick enough to cut with a knife, and the silence that came with it seemed to last forever. Finally Rachel caved, her shoulders slumping in defeat. "Fine," she said, and turning on her heals, she marched back up the stairs.

As soon as she was out of sight, the tension lifted and Dr. K got right down to business. "As soon as you are finished with your breakfast, I'd like to commence testing." She said curtly, "It is imperative that we learn as much as possible about your technology so that we can defeat Venjix."

Chloe nodded and slumped down in her chair. Her quiet, withdrawn demeanor had returned as soon as her sister had left the room. Scott walked away from the kitchen and gestured with his head for Summer to follow. She jumped off the stool and walked after him.

When they were far enough out of earshot from the others, Scott stopped. "Summer, I still don't trust either of them enough to leave them alone in here. I want you to stay with Chloe while Dr. K runs her tests, make sure that Chloe cooperates." Summer nodded, she had planned to stay with Chloe anyway, to make sure that Dr. K didn't go too overboard with the tests.

"Hey, what's with the secret meetings?" Flynn asked, walking up behind the two of them. "I thought we were supposed to be a team!" He feigned a hurt expression and Summer laughed.

"Scott just wants me to keep an eye on Chloe and make sure that she doesn't blow up the lab or Dr. K."

"Yeah, we don't need another half-robot tearing up the lab." Scott said looking pointedly at Dillon as he walked over to them.

"Keep talking like that and it'll be you I'm tearing apart." Dillon said, half-smirking. He was used to the digs from Scott, and let them roll off a lot more easily than he would have a few months ago.

"Children," Flynn cautioned, "Not in front of the little one." He glanced back at Chloe, who was completely engrossed in eating her cereal. She looked up when she felt the rangers watching her and smiled.

"Alright, now that we're all here," Scott said, "I'll repeat what I was just saying to Summer, I don't trust Rachel or Chloe, not completely, so I want people to keep an extra eye out, make sure that they don't go anywhere alone. Is that understood?" He looked directly at Dillon.

Dillon said nothing. He didn't want to follow Rachel around like she was some kind of criminal, but he knew that Scott had a point. Still, he couldn't help but add, "And what happens when we have to go out and defend the city? Do we leave someone behind every time to watch them?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Scott said, a little bit annoyed. "In the meantime, we just need to make sure that neither of them is left alone in garage. Ziggy, I want you to go upstairs and check on Rachel, just make sure that she's not doing anything she isn't supposed to."

Ziggy nodded and headed for the stairs and Dillon followed him. He was running after Rachel. Again. Summer's stomach twisted into knots again, but she tried to bury the feeling by getting down to business. She walked over to the countertop where Chloe was eating.

"Almost done?" She asked. Chloe nodded and took another bite of cereal. "You know, that was really brave, how you stood up to your sister. I didn't know that eleven year olds knew that kind of language."

Chloe swallowed and whispered, "That's how Rachel used to talk to traders when they weren't being fair. They'd usually back down after that. I thought I'd give it a try."

"I can see why." Summer said, laughing.

They sat in silence for a few minutes while Chloe finished the breakfast. Summer had never seen anyone so engrossed in eating cereal before; Chloe seemed to relish every bite like it might be her last. Finally, the bowl was drained and Chloe hopped off her stool and headed towards the lab. Summer followed her into the white room and watched as Dr. K hooked various monitors up to the girl.

***

Tenaya 7 had paced the length of her room so many times it surprised her that she hadn't worn a ditch in the floor. Venjix had warned her that if her next trip into Corinth didn't bring back the shield for him, she would be reduced to scrap metal. Now that they knew she was after it, the rangers would be sure not to let the shield anywhere near her, it would be impossible to take.

"Sure, Shifter and Crunch combined have the mental capacity of a squirrel, no probably less, and couldn't follow directions if you drew them out, but when I screw up the jobs that actually require thought, then I get threatened with dismemberment! How's that fair?" Tenaya raged, punching the wall and leaving a fist sized hole.

She glared at the hole, as if it was the cause of all of her problems. Suddenly, her eyes widened in realization. She knew how she would steal the shield for Venjix.


	6. Chapter 6

***

"Okay, so if I get all five royal cards with the same suit, then I, like, automatically win, right?" Rachel asked from behind her cards, looking over at Ziggy. They were sitting in his room playing poker and eating the various stashes of candy Ziggy had lying about.

"Yeah, but that's so unlikely, it's almost…impossible." Ziggy said, smiling. He had four of a kind, one of the hardest hands to beat. Rachel laid her cards down in front of her, showing a ten, jack, queen, king, and ace, all spades. "How did you do that?" he asked incredulously.

"Dumb luck, I guess." She shrugged, and grabbed the deck to shuffle again. "So, how does one exactly become a power ranger? I mean, did you have tryouts or something?"

"Why, you looking to be one?" Ziggy asked. Rachel started dealing the cards out and smiled up at him.

"Running around, saving the city from Venjix's evil creations while wearing spandex? No thanks."

"Don't let Dr. K hear you say that." Ziggy said, looking at the hand Rachel had dealt. "She'll probably rip your head off, or subject you to a lecture on how the suit is not made of spandex. Honestly, I don't know which one would be worse."

Rachel snorted, "I see." She studied her hand and looked up at Ziggy. He smiled and laid his cards out on the table. "Full house," he said triumphantly.

She laid out her cards, "Beats a two pair."

They played a few more hands, and Ziggy told her about all of the high points of the city. Rachel listened intently, as if she had forgotten what civilization was really like. "So there's a legit movie theatre not two blocks from here, and you haven't been to see a movie yet?" Rachel asked incredulously when Ziggy started talking about the attractions close to home.

"Well besides the fact that there's barely any time and we never know when Venjix is going to send another attack bot into the city, I've never really had anyone to go with."

"What about Dillon, aren't you two friends." Rachel asked.

"Yeah, try asking him to go to the movies." Ziggy grabbed a bag of gummies.

"So why don't you and I go?" Rachel asked casually.

"Wait, what?"

"Look, I know I'm not really supposed to leave the garage, but I figure since we'd be going together it would be okay." Rachel reached into the gummie bag and pulled a few out, popping them into her mouth.

"That's not…you're asking me to go to the movies with you?"

"Yeah, sure. We're friends right? And that's what friends do!"

Ziggy stared at Rachel in amazement, "Alright, we'll go to the movies."

Rachel smiled and pulled out another handful of gummies. She liked Ziggy, she wasn't sure if it was as a friend or something more, but she enjoyed spending time with him. He made her laugh, and not many people had been able to do that lately.

"So, do you mind if I ask you a question?" Ziggy asked after a while. His question had been swimming around in his head since they had brought Rachel back to the garage, but there hadn't really been time to ask her.

"Sure, go ahead." Rachel said, pulling one of the twizzlers Ziggy had given her out of the bag and pulling a desk chair up across from the bed.

"How did you meet Dillon? I mean, the wasteland is thousands of miles across, how did you two stumble across each other?" Rachel looked at him and Ziggy wondered if he had encroached on private territory.

"Dumb chance," Rachel finally said. "We just happened to meet at the right moment…"

_(Flashback)_

_Chloe watched Rachel as she pulled the sleeping bags out of the pack on the back of the bike. Rachel was angry, they hadn't found any traders again that day, and she was taking it out on the camp, throwing everything on the ground in one heap. _

_"Damn it!" She yelled when a loaf of bread fell out onto the floor. "Sorry, Chloe. I didn't mean to shout."_

_"Do you need help?" Chloe asked. "I can help."_

_Rachel smiled, even after everything her sister had been through; she was still the kindhearted little girl who had left for the hospital two years ago. She tossed the backpack to Chloe. "See if you can find the canteen. I know I packed it last night, but I can't find it."_

_Chloe rummaged through the backpack and said, "It's not here."_

_"Shit, now we need another way to collect water. That canteen cost me three days worth of food!" Rachel kicked the sleeping bags and sat down angrily on the ground. _

_Chloe spotted something wedged beneath the wheels of the bike. She walked over and saw the canteen underneath the front wheel. She picked up the bike, pulled out the canteen, and tossed it to Rachel._

_"Found it."_

_"Show off," Rachel muttered, smiling._

_Engine sounds rumbled in the distance and a car approached their camp quickly. "Chloe, put down the bike. Now!" Chloe dropped the bike and crawled behind Rachel as the car pulled to a stop. Rachel grabbed her blaster and aimed it at the figure exiting the car. "Stop right there!" she said "Don't come any closer."_

_"I don't want any trouble." The figure said, putting his hands up. "I just need fuel, for my car."_

_"We don't have any extra. What we have won't last another week, less in that car."_

_"Well then, I guess we'll just have to take what you have and hope it gets us to the next camp." Rachel whirled around to face another man who had snuck up from behind; he was surrounded by three others. _

_"Get lost," Rachel said and fired her blaster at the man. He flew back several feet and landed in a heap on the sand. _

_"You'll regret that, little girl." One of the other men hissed as he charged towards her. The other two ran towards the man by the car. Rachel raised the blaster to fire another shot, but before she could, the man went flying backwards. Chloe had grabbed his shirt and thrown him over her shoulder. Rachel grinned at Chloe._

_"I swear, you need to go out for the major leagues," she said, before spinning around to see if the man needed help with the other two thugs. As she watched, he sent one of them flying twenty feet with a shove and began advancing on the remaining one, who scrambled away over the sand._

_"Oh my," Rachel breathed._

_"You handled them pretty well." The man said, "and she's got quite an arm."_

_"You should talk! I'm Rachel and this is Chloe." She said, extending an arm._

_"Dillon."_

"We stayed together for two weeks after that until we found a camp where there were traders, got what we needed, and then we split up. I didn't see him again until yesterday." Rachel finished.

"Wow." Ziggy said, and the two lapsed into a semi-uncomfortable silence.

A soft, tinkling music rang from behind the two of them, interrupting the silence. Rachel jumped and turned around to see Dillon standing in the doorway behind him.

"Have you been there this whole time?" she asked.

Dillon closed the watch, cutting off the music. He remained silent but nodded. Ziggy rolled his eyes, Dillon was his closest friend on the ranger team, but sometimes the constant brooding was a little annoying.

"Have you found out what the watch means yet?" Rachel asked curiously.

"It has something to do with my sister." Dillon said, twirling the watch around in front of him. It frustrated him that he couldn't remember anything about his sister, and that he had failed in saving her, even though he didn't remember how. What frustrated him more though was the fact that Rachel _had_ been able to protect her sister, first from the people who held her captive, and then from all of the people in the wasteland who wanted to hurt them. He knew it was petty, but he almost resented Rachel for her ability to protect Chloe.

"You sister? You have a sister?" Rachel asked, looking at Ziggy. He nodded in confirmation. "Well, what happened to her?"

"I don't know!" Dillon snapped. "All I know is that I couldn't save her, and she could be dead out there and I don't even remember her name!" He spun around and angrily stomped out of the room.

Rachel pushed herself up to go after him, but Ziggy grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her back. "Let him be." He said. "Just give him a little bit of time to cool down."

***

Dillon slammed the door to the garage behind him as he stomped outside. The clouds from the day before had cleared and the sun was shining brightly, making his dark mood even darker. He walked away from the garage, going nowhere but away from all of his friends. He missed the quiet of the wasteland, where he wouldn't see another soul for days. His friends meant more than almost anything else to him, but sometimes their constant need to know everything about his past, every single memory he had uncovered, could become suffocating.

He turned down a side road between two buildings and stopped as a memory hit him. It was the same one, him being dragged away as his sister called out for him. If he could just remember her face…

***

Chloe stayed quiet as Dr. K poked and prodded her, wincing only slightly as blood was drawn. She looked around the room with interest, taking in all of the various machines Dr. K had hooked up.

"You probably think that I am too insensitive." Dr. K said suddenly. Chloe just shrugged and continued observing the room. She was used to dealing with scientists, and they weren't always the warm, fuzzy types. "I probably am a little cold at times," Summer snorted from behind them, but otherwise remained quiet. "But I am sorry for what was done to you. I know what it's like to be penned up like an animal as a young child."

Chloe looked at Dr. K with wide eyes. "It's true." Dr. K continued, strapping a heart monitor to Chloe. "I was recruited at a very young age to work in a secret laboratory called Alphabet Soup. I didn't have a childhood either."

"I'm sorry." Chloe whispered, fiddling with the end of her shirt. "Were they mean to you?"

Dr. K stopped, she had never been asked that before, "Yes, they were." She answered quietly, "They lied to me for years and then took some of my only friends from me." Her eyes teared up as she remembered the last time she had seen Gem and Gemma.

"I know what it's like to lose friends." Chloe said, "I had friends at the hospital, but Rachel said that it was destroyed, and now I don't know if my friends are alive. But if you want, I can be your friend." She mumbled the last part, as if unsure if she should actually say it out loud. Dr. K looked surprised. Her outwardly insensitive demeanor usually kept everyone away but the rangers, the only people she would actually consider friends. She couldn't remember the last time someone had asked to be her friend.

"I would like that very much, Chloe," Dr. K smiled. Summer smiled too. Despite everything, Chloe wasn't afraid to let her feelings show. Summer thought of Dillon and her fear of him knowing how she felt, that was what kept her back from telling him, that he might not care for her in the same way.

"Screw it," she said, pulling out her morpher.

***

Dillon stopped in front of a small park near the edge of the city and sat down on a bench. He pulled his pocket watch and flipped it open, winding it up and letting the music play. The memory of his sister played through his head over and over, but he couldn't grasp the small details he wanted so badly. His sister's face was obscured, and he couldn't see where they dragged her away to.

His morpher beeped, jerking him out of his reverie. "Yeah," he answered gruffly.

"Where are you?" Summer asked, her voice sounding anxious.

"Why, is there trouble somewhere?"

"No, it's just…you stormed out of the garage almost an hour ago, and you seemed pretty angry. I wanted to make sure you're alright."

"Yeah, I'm alright." He said shortly, almost immediately regretting his tone. He hated making Summer worry. With the Venjix virus inside of him, he should have known that him running off would concern her. "Sorry, I just needed some air. I'll be back soon."

"Alright. Hey, when you get back, do you think I could talk to you about something?"

Dillon couldn't imagine what she would want to talk about. "Yeah, sure. I'll see you in about fifteen minutes and then we'll talk. Okay?"

She agreed and hung up. Dillon put his face in his hands and sighed. Oh well, it had been peaceful while it lasted.

"Oh my," Dillon jumped to his feet at the voice. "I hope I'm not interrupting your pity party." Tenaya 7 stood in front of Dillon with an attack bot behind her.

"Sorry, party for one." Dillon said, readying to fight. He was in just the mood to crush some Venjix metal and a fight with Tenaya sounded like just what he needed.

Tenaya smirked, it would be fun to crush the black ranger, but unfortunately she had other plans. "That's very rude, Ranger Black." Tenaya scolded, shaking a finger at him, "Let's see if my attack bot can't teach you some manners." She stepped aside as the attack bot stepped forward.


	7. Chapter 7

***

Summer looked up as Rachel and Ziggy walked into the lab. "Hey Doc, how are the tests going?" Ziggy asked, leaning against the doorway. Rachel stood next to him, watching Chloe run on the treadmill Dr. K used to test endurance. Her arms were folded across her chest, disdain for the test written all over her face.

"Much better than yours did, Ranger Green." Dr. K said and Ziggy flushed a deep red.

"Did you really have to bring that up?" He asked, giving Rachel a sidelong glance.

"Chloe's tests show that her upgrades have given her physical abilities that match those of Ranger Black's." Dr. K said, changing the subject. "And I believe that I have learned enough about the technology to replicate the process in which her technology was implanted."

"So you think that you could do this to someone else?" Summer asked. The fight against Venjix needed more soldiers, and if they could find willing participants, the technology could help level the playing field.

"Possibly, but that's not all that I have found." Dr. K said. She walked over to her computer and tapped a few keys, pulling up the screen monitoring Dillon's vitals. "After running simulations, I believe that the technology inside of her could possibly halt the Venjix virus inside of Ranger Black, maybe even reverse it." A hint of a smile played across her face, the only emotion she let show.

The air seemed to leave the room. Summer, Ziggy, Rachel, and Chloe were frozen in place, staring at Dr. K with wide eyes. "I thought…" Summer started carefully, as if speaking at that moment would jinx what Dr. K had said. "I thought you said there was no cure." A cure for Dillon, a life without the Venjix virus hanging over their heads, it was so amazing it was almost unimaginable.

"I thought so as well, Ranger Yellow." Dr. K said, "But at the time, I did not have the technology I now posses. Chloe's implants are remarkably similar to the technology used in the ranger program; however it is the dissimilarities in the base code that may be able to save Ranger Black from the Venjix virus."

The information slowly sunk in. Suddenly, Summer jumped up from her chair squealing and ran to Dr. K, pulling her into a tight hug. "Thank you!" she squealed, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

Dr. K tensed at Summer's display of affection. "I only found the information, Ranger Yellow. Curing Ranger Black was not my objective."

Summer laughed, not even Dr. K's chilly mood could bring her down. "I don't care." She said, and squeezed Dr. K tighter.

On the other side of the room, Ziggy was jumping for joy. Literally. Of all the things Chloe could have done for the rangers, this was by far the best. The virus that was slowly taking over his best friend finally had a cure! He joined in the hug with Summer and Dr. K, only making Dr. K more uncomfortable, but he didn't care.

The bone-crushing hug finally ended, to Dr. K's relief. Even though out of all the Rangers, Ranger Black was in no way her favorite, she was happy for him. She knew that he would be much more at ease if he knew that he was not going to kill all of his friends at a moment's notice.

Scott and Flynn walked into the lab, drawn by the sound of Summer's squealing, and Summer quickly pulled the two into another hug, nearly knocking them over. She relayed what Dr. K had told them, her happiness bubbling over and making her almost impossible to understand because she was speaking so quickly.

"Alright, well call Dillon back here and give him the news." Scott said, "I'll run to the store and pick up some food, we can have a party."

"Dillon'll hate that." Ziggy said, laughing, "We found a cure for the virus, not his brooding personality."

Scott laughed, "I'll be back in half an hour."

Summer turned on her heels towards Chloe and Rachel. They were deep in conversation, apparently paying no attention to the conversation the rangers were having. "Hey," she called, "Aren't you going to join in? After all, Chloe is the reason for the festivities."

Rachel smiled and whispered something in Chloe's ear before walking over to Summer. "Congratulations." She said, standing awkwardly, not sure if she should talk to Summer.

"For what? It's Dillon you should be congratulating."

"No, it's you." Rachel said, "Chloe said you called him before you even knew any of this. She said you were going to tell him something. I think I can guess. That's why I'm saying congratulations; it's hard to tell someone how you really feel. I'll congratulate Dillon later."

Summer was taken aback, was it really that obvious? "How did you…? Never mind that, I thought you liked him." She said. She had thought that Rachel would be the one thing in the way of her and Dillon after the Venjix virus.

"What, me?" Rachel seemed equally taken aback. "Please, because of the whole half-robot thing, I can't help but think of him and my sister as practically related. And I'm not into the whole brooding thing; it's a bit overdramatic for my taste. So no, you go ahead and tell him how you feel. I think he feels the same way." And with that, she walked out of the lab.

***

"I thought you said he was on his way." Ziggy said twenty minutes later, his hands fiddling in his lap as he waited impatiently for Dillon to return. The Black Ranger was late and Ziggy couldn't ignore the twisting sensation in his stomach telling him that something was wrong. He stood up from the chair and started pacing the floor of the garage.

"I thought he was." Summer said, absentmindedly. She was still to happy about the events of the last hour to worry about Dillon being late.

"Maybe you should call him again," Ziggy said anxiously. Summer didn't even acknowledge that she had heard him.

Ziggy sighed. Summer had been in la-la-land since Dr. K had told her about the Venjix virus cure and he hadn't been able to get more than a few words out of her. She wasn't even worried that he was late, which was definitely not like the Summer. Not that there's anything to worry about, Ziggy thought, Dillon's more than capable of taking care of himself.

To try and take his mind off of things, Ziggy walked over to Flynn's car, where, to pass the time, Flynn was showing Chloe how the engine worked.

"How's it going?" Ziggy asked, looking under the hood of the car. The engine looked like nothing more than a large block of metal to him; he couldn't make heads or tails of the inner workings of a car.

"She's a fast learner," Flynn said, patting Chloe on the back. "If the whole protecting the city with advanced upgrades doesn't work out, she could have a real future as a mechanic."

Chloe wrinkled her nose at the thought, "But then I'd be all dirty!" She protested, "My clothes would have grease stains all over them!"

Flynn laughed, "Not a mechanic then. How about a firefighter…"

"Why a firefighter?"

"I was a firefighter once." Flynn said confidently, "And I think you'd be good at it."

"Do firefighters have to talk funny?" Chloe asked with complete sincerity. Ziggy doubled over in laughter behind Chloe, fighting to catch his breath.

"Aye," Flynn said gravely. "So you'd better get started on that accent."

The blaring sound of the alarm pulled Ziggy out of his hysterics. He and Flynn ran into the garage with Summer close behind. Being stuck in daydreams was no reason for her not to pay attention to her ranger duties, so she pulled her mind away from Dillon and focused on the problem at hand.

"What is it, Doctor?" Flynn asked as he stopped in front of her.

"I've detected a Venjix attack bot," She said, pulling up a map on the monitors and pointing towards the glowing red dot. "It is in Sector seven, quickly moving towards…" She stopped.

"Towards what?" Summer asked anxiously. It was never a good sign when Dr. K stopped in mid-sentence.

"It is moving straight towards the garage," Dr. K had a confused expression on her face, "And it is broadcasting some kind of signal."

"You mean like the one that was used to disrupt the shields a while back, by the attack bot that held Dillon's memories?" Ziggy asked.

"I'm afraid that that is not the signal being broadcast, Ranger Green." Dr. K said. "The signal is identical to…" She was cut off by a loud BANG from the outside of garage. The rangers rushed out to see the door lying at least three feet away from its frame and Dillon standing in the doorway.

"Identical to the one broadcast by the device that was once used to control Ranger Black." Dr. K finished as Dillon began advancing towards the rangers, his eyes flashing crimson.

***

**A/N**:Sorry for the long wait, homework is catching up with me. I'm not really happy with this chapter, but hopefully it's not too bad.


	8. Chapter 8

Rachel sat on the edge of the bridge overlooking the river that ran through Corinth. Her feet dangled just above the clear water rushing below her. The river ran right out of the dome and underground to a small pipeline that led an underwater reservoir where all of Corinth's fresh water came from. She held the small shield pendant she had swiped from Dr. K's lab over the water, watching it sway back and forth in the breeze. This was what Venjix wanted, and if he got a hold of it, then any of his creations could walk right into Corinth without anyone knowing until they were right on top of the people. On the other hand, it was the only way she and Chloe could get out of the city again. If they left without the shield, Corinth or Venjix could easily track them and they'd be sitting ducks.

Rachel sighed and put the shield back in her pocket. She couldn't risk throwing the shield away, it was too important. But she also couldn't risk keeping it with her. Venjix had already sent one robot after it, there was no doubt he would try again. She stood up and walked towards a small outcropping of rocks next to the stream, there was a small hole in the middle, barely visible, even if a person was looking right at it; she had found it when she was a little kid. A crumpled piece of paper was still stuck inside the hole, warped and faded, but the picture on it was still visible. It was the last picture of Rachel and Chloe taken before Chloe had been sent away, and Rachel had saved it, planning to take it back when Chloe got better. Rachel pulled the paper out of the hole and stuck it in her pocket. She lowered the shield into the hole, and tucked it into the corner, completely shielded from view.

Standing up from the rocks, she looked around. A small park was off to her left, and two children were playing on the swings, the older one pushing the younger one. Rachel smiled to herself, maybe now there would be time to take Chloe to a park or somewhere else that normal eleven year olds went. Smiling to herself, she turned and began walking back to the garage.

***

"Hey, buddy." Ziggy said shakily as Dillon advanced on the rangers. Dillon gave no indication that he had heard his friend, and Ziggy's heart sank. "Doc,  
if you could, y'know, override the signal like you did last time, that would be great!" He shouted over his shoulder. The last time Dillon had fought the rangers, he had been about to kill them when Dr. K had entered the Venjix base code, and Ziggy didn't want it to get that far this time.

"Oh, that won't work this time Ranger Green." Tenaya 7 stepped through the doorway behind Dillon. "You see, this time we've built in a firewall to protect the signal against being overridden by the Venjix base code. You can't save your friend this time."

Ziggy looked back at Summer, with Scott not there, she was in command until he came back. She was frozen in place, staring at Dillon in horror. This was not what was supposed to happen, she thought, they had just found a way to save him! Ziggy hesitated, looking at Summer with concern. Dillon, however, did not wait for Summer, and ran towards the rangers. He caught Ziggy square in the chest, throwing him back against the wall. Flynn grabbed Dillon's arm before he could throw another punch, giving Ziggy enough time to regain his balance. Dillon threw Flynn off and faced Ziggy again, an evil glint in his eyes.

"Why do you even pretend to fight?" He asked, advancing on the Green Ranger. "Everyone knows you can't fight, you're pathetic. Just give up and I'll make the end as quick and painless for you as possible."

"Even if I believed you," Ziggy growled, "I wouldn't give in, because I know my friend is still in there somewhere, and I'm going to get him back." The black ranger smirked and charged again, but this time Ziggy was ready. He dodged the attack, rolling out of the way, and faced Dillon again. "Come on buddy, snap out of it!"

"Your friend is dead!" This time, Ziggy was too slow and Dillon's attack clipped his shoulder. He groaned as Dillon's punch made contact with his arm, it was like running into a solid brick wall. It would definitely leave a bruise, if he lived that long.

"Dillon, stop!" Flynn said, struggling to his feet. "You have to remember, we're your friends!" Dillon only sneered at the blue ranger.

Behind them, Summer had been drawn into battle with Tenaya 7, who was once again trying to get into Dr. K's lab. Summer threw all of her rage into the fight, all of her anger at losing Dillon to the Venjix virus again, and that extra energy was giving her the upper hand she needed. She blocked all of Tenaya's attacks, matching her blow for blow.

Tenaya was growing impatient, she needed the shield or Venjix would scrap her, and the pesky yellow ranger was standing in the way. She began attacking harder, and even the yellow ranger's rage couldn't help her keep up with Tenaya's robotic attacks. Summer was knocked to the ground by a well placed punch, and Tenaya stood towering over her, with her boot raised right above Summer's stomach.

"You think you can beat me? I am Tenaya 7! The perfect robot, a general in Venjix's army! The next…"

"Oh, shut up!" Summer said, rolling out of under Tenaya's boot and to her feet, and pulling out her morpher, "You really picked a bad day to screw with me, Tenaya."

"Oh darn," Tenaya said, snapping her fingers in mock-embarrassment. "I guess I should come back later then."

Summer sneered. "You're not going anywhere. RPM, get in gear!" She morphed into ranger form and shot her arm out, clipping Tenaya's jaw. Tenaya stumbled back, off balance long enough for Summer to send her flying across the room.

Meanwhile, Dillon was attacking Flynn and Ziggy relentlessly, his robotic enhancements allowing him to fight both of the rangers easily. "You're pathetic." He snarled, effortlessly blocking a combined from the two. "I'm amazed that the city hasn't already fallen to Venjix if you're all that stands in his way."

"You used to protect the city too Dillon!" Ziggy said, almost pleadingly. "C'mon man, remember all those good times, kicking the crap out of Venjix's attack bots. I know you're still in there somewhere, you have to fight it!"

"It's no use, Ziggy," Flynn said, pulling out his morpher. "I don't like it any more than you, but that's not Dillon anymore. He's a threat, and our job is to protect the city." Ziggy looked at Flynn, a torn expression written across his face. He knew that Flynn was right, protecting the city came first, but Dillon was his best friend, and he didn't think he could destroy him.

"I'm sorry," Ziggy whispered under his breath as he pulled out his morpher. He and Flynn nodded at eachother. "RPM, get it gear!" They shouted in unison, morphing.

They charged at Dillon, Ziggy jumped at kicked Dillon hard in the chest, sending him stumbling backwards. Flynn grabbed Dillon's arm and threw him onto the pool table. Dillon grunted as he hit the table and grimaced. He would not allow the two rangers to get the better of him. "I can play that game, too." Before Ziggy or Flynn could react, he morphed into ranger form and stood up from the pool table. "Rocket blaster!" He cried, aiming the weapon at his two teammates. He fired twice, both blasts hitting their marks dead on, and Ziggy and Flynn fell to the ground, morphing out of their ranger suits.

Dillon held the rocket blaster steady, pointing it at Ziggy's head. One shot could finish the green ranger for good, one less power ranger to deal with, but something stopped him from pulling the trigger. As he looked at Ziggy's pleading face, his fingers loosened on the weapon. He didn't understand, he wanted to kill the ranger, wanted the pesky thorn in his side destroyed, but something was preventing him from doing it.

"I guess today's your lucky day, ranger." Dillon snarled, and brought his boot down on Ziggy's face. It wouldn't kill him, but he would be out for a good while.

A jarring sensation on his left shoulder caused him to turn around. Flynn stood behind him, holding wrench in his hand. "You shouldn't have done that." Dillon said casually, advancing on Flynn. He spun the rocket blaster around in his hand and gripped the barrel. Swinging his arm, he smacked Flynn across the side of his head with the butt of the gun. Flynn dropped like a pile of rocks and lay still. "Too easy," he hissed, shaking his head.

***

Summer grunted in pain as Tenaya kicked her in the stomach, but forced herself to ignore the sting and grabbed Tenaya's ankle before she could pull it back. Tenaya's eyes narrowed angrily as she tried to free her foot, but Summer refused to let go. She twisted Tenaya's ankle around and threw her to the floor. "Zip charger!" She yelled, and aimed the weapon at Tenaya. For one second, Tenaya 7 felt real fear, fear that she was about to be destroyed.

Summer fired the zip charger, aiming at Tenaya's face, but at the last second her arm was knocked aside and the zip charger fired into the wall. "What?" Summer cried and turned to face her attacker. Dillon stood behind her, morphed out of his ranger form, a wicked grin on his face.

"I think you dropped something," He said, and lashed out with his foot, knocking her to the ground.

"Dillon, please, stop." She pleaded, as he put a foot on her throat restricting her air.

"Why do all of you insist on pleading with me?" He asked, "It got your friends nowhere." He gestured to Ziggy and Flynn's unmoving forms. "What makes you think you'll be any different?"

Summer tried to suck in air, but Dillon's foot was making it almost impossible. Black was encroaching on the sides of her vision as she mouthed, "Because I love you."

Dillon's brown eyes wavered, the real Dillon overtaking Venjix's virus for a moment, regret shining in his eyes, and he began lifting his foot, but it was too late, Summer lay still on the ground.

"Now that's finally over with," Tenaya said, "Let's get the shield and get out of here."

Dillon shook his head, wiping away all traces of emotion and nodded. "It's in the lab." He said, nodding his head towards the door at the back of the garage.

The pair walked briskly into Dr. K's lab, where Dr. K was standing behind her computer, a finger poised above the keyboard. "Ranger Black," She said, her voice wavering a little, "If you do not stand down, I will have to take you offline."

Tenaya laughed, "You don't have control of the Venjix hardware anymore Dr. K," she said nastily, "And you can't shut it down." Dr. K glared at Tenaya and pressed the button. Nothing happened, and Tenaya laughed, "Now I suggest you give us the shield."

Dr. K's eyes shot almost imperceptibly to a small lab table near the back of the lab, it had all sorts of mechanical clutter strewn over it, and Dillon noticed. He walked towards the table and began tossing through the mess, clearing off the table until there was nothing left.

"It's not here," He said, turning around angrily to look at Dr. K. "Where's the shield?"

Surprise shone on Dr. K's face, but it was quickly replaced with relief. "I don't know, someone must have taken it. But I'm glad they did. At least they kept it safe from you."

Dillon cried out in anger and proceeded to tear apart the lab looking for the shield. It was nowhere to be found. He looked at Tenaya, "It's not here. Venjix won't be happy."

"We can't go back to him empty handed, he'll scrap me!" Tenaya said helplessly.

"We won't go back empty handed." Dillon said, an idea dawning on him. "Follow me."

They walked back through the garage, which looked like a tornado had torn through it, to Flynn's large blue hummer. Dillon yanked the door open and reached a hand inside, pulling out a small, wriggling form. Chloe flung her fists wildly, aiming at nothing, but landing a few solid punches that made Dillon wince in pain.

"You're right," Tenaya said sarcastically, "He's always wanted a runty human girl. How could he refuse that offering?"

"Shut up," Dillon said, as he struggled to restrain Chloe. "She's got ranger technology implanted inside of her. How much do you think Venjix wants his very own ranger technology?" He finally got a hold on both of Chloe's arms and held them tight against her back. Tenaya's eyebrows shot up in surprise and an evil grin spread across her face.

"Oh, I think he wants it very much." She said.

"Please Dillon," Chloe whimpered, turning her head to look at him with pleading eyes, "Please don't do this. Let me go!"

He ignored her pleas and began dragging her out of the garage with Tenaya following behind.

---

**A/N-**Once again, sorry for the long wait for this chapter, schoolwork is finally catching up with me(Summer homework should be banned).


	9. Chapter 9

"Hey Rachel, wait up!" Scott called as he raced towards her. He had two large grocery bags filled with food in his hands, and as he stopped beside her, she grabbed one of them. He smiled gratefully. She was surprised the bag hadn't broken from the weight it carried, it had to weigh thirty pounds at least.

"Trying to feed an army?" She asked and Scott laughed.

"With the amount of food we go through in a week, you'd think so." He said, "What are you doing out here? Why aren't you back at the garage?"

"I went for a walk," she said, "It was getting a little too crowded in the garage for my taste. I think I've got to get used to living with other people again."

"Hey look," Scott said, after a few minutes of walking in silence. "I'm sorry if I've seemed a bit harsh, but I have to make sure that the city stays safe, and you could have been…"

Rachel raised a hand, cutting him off. "First of all, I totally understand, you were just doing your job. Second, you were right not to trust me; I was some random stranger coming out of the wasteland with a part-robot sister. I could have easily been a spy for Venjix. So no hard feelings."

Scott smiled and they continued walking. Rachel raised her head to look up at the Corinth sky; it was a beautiful light blue freckled with small, white clouds. After living out in the wasteland where clouds were scarce and everything, even the sky, had a yellowish tint, she didn't think she'd ever get used to the beauty of Corinth's sky, even if it wasn't real.

"What….yeah…okay, I'm on my way." Rachel looked over her shoulder to see Scott talking into his morpher. She hadn't noticed him stopping behind her.

"What is it?" She asked.

"That was my father," Scott answered, looking shocked. "We need to get back to the garage right now!"

"Wait, was it attacked? By who? I thought Venjix's bots went for civilian targets!" Rachel said, as she and Scott began running towards the garage.

"It wasn't an attack bot." Scott said evasively. Rachel was panting behind him, struggling to keep up with the red ranger.

"Then what was it?" She asked. She knew he wasn't telling her something, and was determined to find out what.

"Not what, who." Scott said. "Rachel…it was…Dillon. Dillon attacked the garage."

Rachel almost fell from surprise. "Wait, you're saying Dillon…why would he do that?"

"Last time it happened it was because of a device Venjix had planted to control him." Scott said and rounded a corner to the street where the garage was. "I don't know what it was this time."

"But you think it was the virus." Scott nodded, and then slowed cautiously when they reached the garage. On the outside, there were no signs of an attack, but as soon as he stepped through the door, he was taken aback at the destruction that had occurred in the short time he had been gone.

Rachel came up behind him and gasped. Broken furniture lay throughout the large room, and there were two large holes in the walls, left from someone being thrown into them. "Oh my…you're saying Dillon did this?" She asked weakly. Then looking around the room, she asked anxiously, "Where is everyone?"

"The infirmary is right behind the lab." Scott said, picking his way through the rubble in the room. "I'm betting that's where they are." He grimaced as he walked past the large holes in the wall; they were deep, indented almost six inches into the wall. Rachel followed quietly behind him, stepping over the broken chair pieces littered around the floor. She couldn't see Dillon doing this, attacking the garage and his friends.

"So what, the virus is finally winning?" She asked Scott, and he turned around and looked at her, his eyes shining with concern.

"Let's hope there's another explanation." He said. Maybe it had been artificially accelerated by Venjix again, and Dr. K could stop it, like the last time.

Rachel looked away for a moment, as if deep in thought, and nodded. They reached the lab and walked towards the door that was standing open at the other end of the large room. A moan of pain rang through the doorway as they got closer and Scott quickened his pace, almost running into the small infirmary. What he saw made his heart skip a beat. All of the rangers were lying on the beds positioned at the edges of the room. They turned to look at him as he entered the room, and the severity of their injuries astounded him. A large, ugly bruise was blossoming on Summer's neck, blood covered Ziggy's face and it looked like his nose might be broken, and Flynn had a cut on his temple that Dr. K was attempting to stitch up. But what frightened Scott the most was not the injuries, it was the look of absolute hopelessness in his friends' eyes, the look that their best friend, a person they had trusted, had attacked them and tried to kill them.

Rachel was equally taken aback by the ranger's injuries, she felt woozy just looking at them, but her eyes were drawn quickly away by the complete _absence_ of a presence. She turned in her spot, taking in everything in the room, her eyes scanning frantically for something to explain the absence.

"Where's Chloe?" Her voice was hushed, almost too quiet to hear, just like Chloe. Summer and Flynn looked away, unable to tell Rachel what had happened. Ziggy stood up from the bed carefully, swaying a little bit, and walked towards her. The sorrow and remorse in his eyes told her everything before he could mumble, "I'm so sorry," and her legs gave way. She slid slowly down the wall and came to rest on the floor, her head landing in her hands and her body wracking with sobs.

***

Summer felt a hand on her shoulder and she looked over her shoulder to see Scott gazing at her with concern. She covered his hand with hers and closed her eyes. The weight on her shoulder was a comfortable, friendly gesture that reminded her how much she relied on and cared for Scott, and even though she didn't feel the same way about him as she did about Dillon despite everything that had happened, she was glad that Scott was there with her.

"What happened?" Scott asked softly, coming around to face her. She pointed sadly at her throat and shook her head. Her throat was incredibly sore from where Dillon had stepped on it and it hurt too much too talk.

"After you left, we waited for Dillon to come home." Flynn said as Dr. K finished up with his make-shift stitches. "Dr. K got a hit on her computer sensor saying that there was an attack bot in the city, and by the time we figured out that it was broadcasting a signal to control Dillon's Venjix technology, it was too late. He and Tenaya 7 broke into the garage, and I think you can guess the rest." He gestured to his head wound and Summer's neck. "It was brutal."

"What happened to Chloe?" Scott asked, more softly this time, glancing over at Rachel to make sure she hadn't heard. If Chloe had been taken, they needed a plan to get her back, not a grief-stricken civilian running around trying to find Venjix's lair and Chloe.

"After Ranger Black fought the other rangers, he came into the lab looking for the shield that Chloe and Rachel brought with them." Dr. K picked up the story for Flynn, seeing as he had been unconscious at the time, "When he could not locate the shield, Tenaya 7 was afraid that Venjix would dismantle her on account of her failure. Ranger Black suggested that they take Chloe instead, because of the Ranger technology inside of her." Summer felt tears welling up, she cared about Chloe and didn't want to imagine what Venjix would do to get at the technology in her.

"Alright," Scott said after a pause where a plan had begun forming in his head. "First we need to take out the attack bot that's controlling Dillon, then we get him to show us where he took Chloe…" He trailed off when he saw the sad looks Flynn, Summer, and Dr. K shared. "What?"

"Scott…Dr. K says…" Flynn looked up at the team leader nervously.

"Even if the signal is disrupted and the attack bot destroyed, it is too late." Dr. K said coldly. Scott recognized her callousness as a defense mechanism. In order to protect herself from being hurt by the Black Ranger's betrayal, she distanced herself as far away from him or any of the other rangers. It was the only way she knew to cope with losing a friend. "The virus was accelerated again, and has already taken over Ranger Black, and Venjix has prevented me from reversing it by building a firewall."

Scott looked at her, stunned. He couldn't believe that this had happened, and while he was out _shopping_ no less. If he had just stayed in the garage instead of insisting that they need to celebrate, then maybe things would have turned out differently.

He shook his head angrily, refusing to accept that his friend was lost for good. As much as he and Dillon disagreed over, well pretty much everything, he respected Dillon as a ranger and a friend and Scott would not give up on his friend.

"No, there's got to be a way, there's always a way." Scott said firmly.

"I'm sorry Ranger Red, but I don't see one." Dr. K said, turning to look at Summer's neck. Summer waved her away impatiently, she didn't need medical care, she needed Dr. K to work on the solution to save Dillon. She agreed with Scott, there had to be a way to save Dillon.

"What about the base code from Chloe's implants." Rachel stood up shakily from the floor and looked at Dr. K. "You said it could cure the virus."

Hope blossomed in Summer's eyes at Rachel's suggestion. "It's possible that it could reverse the Venjix virus, even at this stage," Dr. K answered, "However, there is the problem of it being delivered. Before, I would have been able to give the anti-virus directly to Ranger Black, I doubt he would let me administer it willingly now."

"You find a way to use that base code to make a cure." said Rachel determinedly, "If you can make it, I can get it close enough to administer it."

Dr. K started to protest, she wouldn't allow a civilian to go after the black ranger after he had just all but destroyed her rangers, but she was interrupted by Summer. "You go," she rasped, speaking obviously causing her pain, "I go."

Ziggy walked up behind Rachel and wrapped an arm around her waist. Rachel looked back at him, surprised, but a hint of a smile played across her face as he said, "Me too."

Scott looked at Flynn whose eyes were narrowed in determination, "Do you even have to ask?" Flynn questioned.

Scott nodded at Flynn and then looked around at his friends, "Alright then. let's go save Dillon and Chloe!"

***

**A/N**-So I had every intention of publishing this on friday, but my computer had different ideas and wouldn't let me upload, sorry. Anyway, I'm not sure about this chapter, so I hope it turned out well.


	10. Chapter 10

Summer checked her bike's engine one more time for good measure. It was the only thing she could think to do, what else could someone do to prepare themselves to go into battle with someone they loved? She clenched her eyes against the tears that were threatening to overflow; she couldn't allow herself to think like that. Dr. K would make the anti-virus, and they would save Dillon and Chloe, any alternative to that was too horrible to comprehend.

A warm, heavy hand was placed on her shoulder, and she turned around to see Scott looking down at her with concern. She knew what he was going to say, and she didn't try to stop him.

"Summer, maybe you should-I know you might hate me for this, but I think you should sit this one out." He braced himself, expecting her to scream, or at least yell, at him for being so stupid.

"Scott," she rasped, wincing at the pain in her throat, "I am not going to sit back in the garage while everyone else fights to save the man I love."

Scott looked for a moment like he was going to forbid her from going, but the determined look in her eyes silenced him, and he nodded. "Alright," he said, "I just-I knew how you felt about Dillon, and I didn't want you to get hurt."

Summer nodded, "I understand, Scott. And you're right, I probably should stay behind. But just before I passed out, I saw the real Dillon, for just a second. I know he's still in there somewhere, and I can't just sit back knowing that he's still alive in there, underneath the Venjix virus. I have to fight for him."

She looked up at Scott and saw the worry in his eyes, but he closed his them and looked away, "You really love him don't you?" He asked.

"Yes," Summer said, "I really do."

***

"You're going to put a hole in that." Rachel turned around to see Ziggy standing in the doorway, watching her. She looked back at the punching bag, still swinging from the beating she had given it.

"I needed something to do." She said, not quite meeting his gaze.

"Don't worry, Dillon totals at least two a week…" He trailed off as she winced at Dillon's name. "Rachel, it wasn't Dillon who took your sister. It was Venjix."

Rachel only shrugged and turned back to the punching bag. "Anything from Dr. K?" She asked as she shot her fist at the bag.

"She thinks she's close." Ziggy said, "Maybe a few more hours."

"It's already been four hours, Ziggy. Every minute Dillon and Chloe get farther away. We need that anti-virus now!"

"If she doesn't make it right, then it might not work at all, and we'll be going into battle without an endgame. We can't fight Dillon for long, especially if he's with Tenaya and the grinders. I know you want your sister back, but rushing in unprepared won't save her."

Rachel turned her back to Ziggy, and he could see her shoulders shaking as silent sobs escaped her. His heart broke for her, she had lost the one reason she had to live to his best friend, and he couldn't help feeling torn between the two of them. Both Dillon and Rachel were the only ones who truly took him seriously as a ranger, the ones who didn't doubt his abilities, and the ones who he looked up to.

Ziggy placed a hand on Rachel's shoulder and pulled her close to him, whispering into her ear that everything was going to be okay. He felt her sobs and held tighter.

She raised her face to his, a silent plea in her eyes. His lips met hers softly, and she wrapped her arms around his neck. For a moment, there was nothing else, no virus, no crisis, just the two of them.

"Thank you," she whispered, when they finally separated. She felt the tears drying on her cheeks, and no more were coming.

Ziggy nodded and smiled. "Now come on, let's go see if we can't badger Dr. K and get her to work faster."

Rachel followed Ziggy out of the room, smiling softly behind him.

***

The rangers all met outside Dr. K's lab, drawn by their increasing impatience to save their friend. All of them looked unsure as to whether they should enter and disturb Dr. K, or whether they should just let her work, and trust her to finish the anti-virus before it was too late.

They stood awkwardly outside the door, nobody saying anything, and most of them avoiding as much eye contact as possible. Everyone jumped as Dr. K walked out of the lab, her footsteps sounding like gunshots in the silent room. The four rangers and Rachel looked at her expectantly.

Dr. K's expression was unreadable as she pulled a small, black object out of her pocket. "Using the base code from Chloe's technology, this will reset Ranger Black's Venjix implants back to their original settings, before the signal was activated earlier today." She said curtly, looking briefly at all of them.

"So it will work?" Summer asked softly, looking at the anti-virus with hope.

"Yes," Dr. K said, her face still indecipherable. "It will work."

Summer was about to jump for joy, but she settled for pulling the other rangers into a group hug.

"But?" Rachel stood outside of the group, waiting for the catch. There was no such thing as a foolproof plan, and she wanted to know what the catch was.

"But the virus is much more advanced than it was before this morning. The anti-virus may not completely cure it. My calculations show that it will cause the virus to regress to a much less advanced state, but it won't eradicate it. The mechanic parts that are still functioning will continue to spread at a rate similar to before. This is not a cure; it's just delaying the virus." Dr. K's voice almost broke as she took in the heartbroken faces of her team. They had just gone into battle with their friend and lost, and now they had lost their chance at defeating the virus once and for all.

"It'll still give us time." Scott said, and reached for the anti-virus. "If we wait now, we might never get Dillon back."

Summer's heart broke for what felt like the hundredth time that day. She couldn't believe a morning that had started out so amazingly had evolved into this. And what if they couldn't save Chloe too? The rangers knew that what Dillon was doing wasn't his fault, but if he was the reason that Chloe fell into Venjix's hands, Summer knew he would never forgive himself.

"So how does it work?" Rachel asked, "How do we get that cure to Dillon?"

"The anti-virus is transmitted wirelessly, all you need to do is get that close enough to him for fifteen seconds, and the virus will instantly begin regressing." Dr. K said.

"How close is close?" Flynn asked. Last time, the rangers had barely been able to touch him, holding him down for fifteen seconds could be impossible.

"The anti-virus device must be touching Ranger Black for the anti-virus to be uploaded." Dr. K said, and Scott and Flynn groaned. Every second this was looking more impossible.

"I suggest that you leave now." Dr. K said to all of them. "I am picking up Ranger Black's biosignature in the wasteland just outside the dome."

"He's waiting for a fight." Scott said warily. They would be walking into a trap.

"Then we'll give it to him." Rachel said determinedly. Ziggy nodded. He didn't care if it was dangerous, he would do anything to save his friend.

"Then let's go." Summer said, and the rest of the team nodded and ran back into the garage.

***

Ziggy turned around in his seat to see dust flying up from the motorcycles behind him. Rachel and Summer swerved around the dust trail that the hummer was leaving and came up on either side of it. Summer's blond hair flew out from under her helmet as she pressed the bike forward towards Dillon, whipping every which way in the wind. She glanced quickly back at Flynn who was driving the hummer. He pointed towards the left and she pulled ahead of the hummer and turned. The hummer followed her, with Rachel still at its side.

"How much farther?" Summer called through her helmet mike. Scott answered from his racer, "About a mile, if these scans are right."

The four vehicles raced through the open space of the desert, converging on the point that Dr. K's computer led them to. Summer squinted through the orange, dusty haze towards a small, black dot on the horizon. As she raced closer, it morphed into a vaguely human shape until finally she could see the outline of Dillon's leather jacket. He was alone, standing ready for the rangers.

Dillon reached to his side and pulled out his morpher. He whispered into the speaker so that the other rangers had to struggle to hear him. "Were you actually stupid enough to come?" He asked, his voice cold and hard.

Summer narrowed her eyes and tightened her grip on the handlebars. Dillon's voice was close to robotic, with no trace of the warmth that had once filled it. Her heart sunk as she saw that he bore no trace of their earlier battle, while she, Ziggy, and Flynn were still covered in painful bruises. They were in no shape to fight hand to hand with the black ranger, even with Rachel and Scott helping.

"Hey Rachel," Summer called through her communicator to the one Dr. K had given Rachel as an idea came to mind. "How good of a driver are you?"

***

Scott watched as Rachel and Summer sped up, their bikes kicking up a dust storm behind them. At that speed, they wouldn't be able to stop before they reached Dillon.

"Summer, you need to slow down." He called through his morpher. She gave no sign that she had heard him, if anything she went faster. "Dammit!" He exclaimed, smacking his palm against the steering wheel. Summer wasn't usually one to be reckless, but her emotions were probably clouding her judgment. He knew he should have made her stay back.

Without warning, the two girls swerved sharply to the left, their bikes skidding directly towards the black ranger. Before Dillon could react, they leapt off, landing hard on the sand as the two bikes crashed into him. Dillon fell beneath the machines and was dragged through the sand before the bikes finally came to a stop. Scott winced; the impact alone probably would have killed a normal person.

Wasting no time, he slammed on the brakes and the car skidded to a halt. Flynn's hummer pulled up behind him. Scott grabbed the anti-virus off of the seat and flung himself out of the car. Flynn and Ziggy ran towards the girls, who were pushing themselves off the ground slowly, wincing from the impact in the sand.

He approached the tangle of bikes carefully. Dillon's arm peeked out from under Summer's yellow bike, his wrist showing beneath his leather jacket.

"I sure hope you're right about this Dr. K," Scott whispered to himself as he bent down to press the anti-virus to Dillon's wrist. Suddenly, the hand shot out, angling itself carefully to keep from touching the black box that Scott held, and clamped itself onto Scott's arm. The bikes flew backwards as Dillon rose from the ground, grinning wickedly.

"Ouch," he said mockingly, and threw Scott backwards. He landed in a crumpled heap on the ground, the anti-virus falling out of his grip and into the sand. Scott reached for it, but Dillon kicked it away and grabbed Scott's arm again, pulling the red ranger painfully to his feet. "Ah, the fearless leader comes to save the city." He said, twisting Scott's arm behind his back. Scott cringed as he heard the popping noise of his arm dislocating. "Or were you just feeling guilty for leaving your team alone to fight me." He dropped Scott with a disdained look on his face. "And to think, I believed that the red ranger might actually be a challenge." He kicked sand at Scott and laughed. "This was a waste of time."

Dillon turned his back on the rangers and began walking away. Scott watched helplessly as his friend began disappearing into yellow horizon of the wasteland.

"Come back here and fight you coward!" Dillon turned around to see Rachel breathing hard, her fists raised in front of her, ready to fight.

"Seriously?" He asked. "Are you that stupid, or just suicidal?" Rachel sneered and stepped closer.

"You took my sister. There's nothing I won't do to bring her back."

"Sorry, sweetie, you're too late," Dillon said, "Your sister's in Venjix's palace, probably being dismembered as we speak."

Rachel roared incoherently and ran at Dillon, her face twisted into a mask of rage. Ziggy chased after her, knowing that Dillon could rip her to shreds without breaking a sweat. Dillon watched the two of them with amusement; he could barely believe their stupidity.

He shot out an arm aimed at Rachel's face, but she dodged it, and swerved around to hit him in the side. He barely felt the blow, but saw her face contort in pain as her fist connected with him. Unfazed, she ducked under another blow and swung her arm to hit him in the gut.

An incredible pain racked his body and he crumpled to the ground. With great effort, he turned his head to look at her fist. She held a small taser to his stomach, firing thousands of volts of electricity through him, paralyzing the Venjix technology. Out of her pocket she pulled the anti-virus and pressed it to his neck as she pulled the taser away.

"That's for my sister," she whispered into his ear before he lost consciousness.

***

**A/N: Wow, that took forever to write, sorry. It's band season and I have absolutely no time. Hopefully I'll type faster next time :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N- Finally I'm back! Sorry it took so long, real life reared its ugly head and writing essays for every major class (except math) completely took away my will to type. So here's to hoping this turned out okay.**

*******

Ziggy wrapped his arm around Rachel's shoulder, trying to comfort her in some way, but she pulled away quickly.

The other rangers walked up behind them and looked down at the black ranger. "Did it work?" Flynn asked cautiously.

"Only one way to find out." Scott said. "Put him in the backseat of the hummer and we'll take him back to Dr. K. Restrain him, just in case."

Flynn and Summer bent down to pick him up, and with great effort, dragged him towards the hummer.

"Are you okay?" Ziggy asked Rachel softly, pulling her back towards him.

"Chloe wasn't here." She said, her voice wavering. "I failed her." She turned her head and wiped the tears in her eyes away. Ziggy could see she was on the verge of breaking down completely.

"No, you didn't. We'll find her." Ziggy squeezed her shoulders, trying to comfort her. It was a weak gesture, but he didn't know what else to do. "Come on, you can ride in the hummer."

She shook her head, "I'm sorry Ziggy. I need to be alone right now. I'll meet you back in Corinth," she said, and walked back over to her bike. It wasn't in too bad of shape, and would most likely last until she got back to the city. Not that she cared any more.

Ziggy turned away sadly and walked back towards his friends. Summer, Flynn, and Scott were lifting Dillon's unconscious form into the back of the hummer, and Flynn pulled three pairs of handcuffs out of a pocket in the back. It was the best restraint they had with them, but if the anti-virus hadn't worked and Dillon woke up, it wouldn't do much good.

Summer turned back to grab her bike out of the sand. She avoided Rachel, knowing that anything she said would probably just make everything worse. There was nothing any of them could do to help Chloe out in the Wasteland. They'd have more of a chance going back to the city and tracking her than wandering around aimlessly in the desert looking for her.

Summer turned back to the rangers and kicked her bike into gear. She nodded at Scott and they took off towards the city.

***

Dr. K watched apprehensively as the rangers brought Dillon into the infirmary. As soon as he was on her chair, she restrained him and began scanning him, to see if the anti-virus had worked. The others stood against the wall, staying as silent as possible.

Dr. K darted between Dillon and her computer several times before she was satisfied with her conclusions.

"As far as I can tell," Dr. K spoke so unexpectedly that the rangers jumped in surprise. "It worked."

An audible sigh was released from the room, and for the first time in a while, the rangers looked happy, even if it was a resigned happiness.

"So when he wakes up, he'll be…" Summer said, trailing off.

"He will be Ranger Black; his normal, brooding self." Dr. K said matter-of-factly.

"When will he wake up?" Ziggy asked, looking anxiously at his friend. It had taken over an hour to drive back to the city, and Dillon hadn't stirred the entire ride back.

"He will wake up when he wakes up Ranger Green," Dr. K answered hotly. Then softening slightly she said, "You may wait in here until he regains consciousness. As long as you don't touch anything." She directed the last statement at Ziggy.

***

It was almost four hours later before Dillon began to move. Flynn, Scott, and Ziggy had crashed on various surfaces of the lab and were fast asleep. Summer was in a chair next to Dillon, struggling to keep her eyes open. She had had an equally trying day, but didn't want Dillon to be alone when he woke up.

Only half-conscious, Dillon struggled at his restraints, the sound cutting through the fog of exhaustion that had settled around Summer. She was at his side in an instant, laying a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, it's alright." She said, softly. "Let me go get Dr. K."

Dillon's hand maneuvered through the restraints and grabbed hers pulling her back to face him. The last time the Venjix virus had taken control, Dillon had had no memory of what happened. It was clear on his face he hadn't been so lucky this time.

***

It was almost impossible, but Summer managed to tear herself away from Dillon long enough to inform Dr. K that the Black Ranger was conscious. She stayed next to him, holding his hand as Dr. K performed all the follow up tests, and afterwards, they sat in silence. Summer hoped that he would talk when he was ready, if he would ever be ready.

Ziggy walked in to the infirmary so quietly, it took her a few moments to notice him. He was uncharacteristically subdued, and it looked like he had been crying. Slowly pulling her hand from Dillon's grasp, Summer walked over to the green ranger.

"Has he said anything yet?" Ziggy asked in a small voice.

"No." She tried to say more, but a small sob closed off her airway, so she just shook her head.

"And the Doc just says…"

"She says he'll be fine, he just needs rest." Summer said, taking deep breaths and trying to keep calm. "But he hasn't said a word, he's barely moved since he woke up."

Ziggy looked past Summer to his friend, laying so still on the infirmary bed. "It wasn't his fault. None of us blame him. He has to know that." Ziggy knew it wasn't as easy as that, but he couldn't imagine being angry at Dillon for something so out of his control.

"It's kind of hard to believe that when every time you close your eyes, you see yourself trying to tear your friends limb from limb." Summer turned to face Dillon, who was trying with moderate success to climb off the bed.

"Hey, no," Summer rushed to the bed and pushed Dillon back down. "You're in no condition to be going anywhere." She immediately regretted her harsh tone. "I'm sorry, but you really need to get some rest."

"Why?" Dillon looked at her hopelessly, "So that I can get my strength back? So that the Venjix technology can restore itself to full power? I don't think so." He stood up, and brushed past her towards the door, but Ziggy jumped in front of the opening and crossed his arms.

"You're not going anywhere." Ziggy said. Dillon tried to shove him aside, but Ziggy stood firm. The green ranger may have been known for goofing around and slacking off at times, but now he was all business and Dillon could see it.

Dillon slumped visibly, the resolve pouring out of him. "Why are you doing this to me?" He asked. "Why would you want to keep me here? After everything I did?"

"Ziggy," Summer said. Ziggy looked up at the yellow ranger. "Could you give us a minute?" He looked at her questioningly. "Just wait outside the door. I need to talk to Dillon alone."

Ziggy looked between the two of them and then nodded. "Alright, I'll be outside if you need me." He walked out of the infirmary, closing the door behind him.

Summer bit her lip and pushed herself away from the infirmary bed. "You're going to have to talk about it sooner or later, so why not start now."

"Stop it," Dillon answered gruffly, not looking at her.

"No, not this time. You're not going to brush me off with the 'I hate myself' routine. Goddamn it Dillon, we're your friends, and we want to help you! So let us!" She was practically yelling, but she didn't care anymore.

"What makes you think it's a routine?" He asked, turning his head even farther away. "And why do you give a crap whether I stay here or not? Scared of losing one of your precious rangers?"

Summer flinched, but forced herself to see through the callous façade to her real friend, the one who was torturing himself because of what he had been made to do to his friends. "I told you once before it was because you were worth saving." He scoffed, and started to walk away, but she grabbed his arm and forced him to stay where he was. "But now I know that's not true." He turned to face her for the first time, and her heart broke to see the pain glistening in his eyes, but she wasn't finished. "It was, and is, because I lov-"

"Stop." He choked out, "Don't say it."

"Why not?"

"Because last time…" He broke off and looked at the bruises that his boot had left around her neck. "Because last time you said that, I was trying to kill you."

"Which is why I have to say it again," she said softly, "Because you were a bit preoccupied last time." A hint of a smile crept on to his face and she laughed. "What, afraid if I say it again you'll start choking me?"

"No, but I don't…we can't…"

"I love you." She pulled him closer to her and stretched up to whisper in his ear again, "I love you."

Dillon struggled to hold the tears back; he had convinced himself that he was leaving no matter what, that he was too dangerous to stay near people. But he couldn't do it now. With three words she had broken through every defense he had ever built.

"I love you too," he whispered back.

*******


End file.
